Confusion
by MissWonka
Summary: When Willy bumps into a girl from his past, he begins to feel very strange. Will he figure out what his feelings mean? And even if he does, will he be brave enough to do anything about them?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n:** Welcome to my latest fan-fic! I hope you like it! Your reviews will decide if I continue it or not, so please review! Oh, and in case anybody's confused, the prologue is supposed to take place in the past, when Willy Wonka was a kid.

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**Prologue**

Veronica, or Ronnie as she liked to be called, was pretty much your average, ordinary little girl. She lived just down the street from Dr. Wilbur Wonka, the city's most famous dentist. On this particular day, Ronnie watched from her front steps as a boy with huge headgear-type braces emerged from Dr. Wonka's house/office. "Oh, look! It's Jaws!" exclaimed a voice. It belonged to Terrance, Ronnie's next-door neighbor. "Brace-face! Brace-face!" taunted another voice. It belonged to Ruthie, Ronnie's other next-door neighbor.

Hearing these insults made Ronnie angry. Personally, she felt sorry for "Jaws", otherwise known as Willy Wonka, Dr. Wonka's son. Ronnie knew that Willy's father was very strict with him and had forbidden him from eating any type of candy. Ronnie also suspected that Willy's father hurt him physically as well as mentally. Ronnie wanted to talk to Willy, but she was a very shy person and had never been able to make herself approach him.

What Ronnie didn't know was that Willy was also very shy. He didn't usually notice Ronnie watching him, but he knew who she was, and he knew that she was about the only kid in school that didn't make fun of him. Several times, he had tried to make himself go over and talk to her, but he always ended up chickening out.

Finally, Ronnie decided that, no matter how hard it was, she was going to do it. She was going to talk to Willy Wonka. At recess, she nervously made her way over to him. Willy looked at her with his brown eyes. "Come on, Willy! Now's your chance!" he told himself. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Ronnie was getting more nervous by the minute. Finally, before she realized what she was doing, she leaned over and kissed Willy on the cheek. When Ronnie realized what she had done, she was horrified. Blushing fiercely, she ran away from Willy.

Willy was completely grossed out. Why had Ronnie slobbered all over him like that? As he wiped the kiss off his cheek, he made a mental note to stay as far away from Ronnie as possible.

A few years later, Willy ran away from home to become a Chocolatier. He forgot all about Ronnie. Slowly, Ronnie's memories of Willy faded as well. Little did they know that they had not seen the last of each other.

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**A/n: **Well, did you like it? I hope so! This is my first attempt at writing a romance, so I hope I do okay. I'll try not to make Willy too OOC! 


	2. Chapter 1: An Old Friend

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this story (nope, not even Veronica is mine. She's one of the kids that Willy goes trick-or-treating with in one of his flashbacks)

**A/n:** A HUGE thank you to my two reviewers from the last chapter (well, prologue, really)! You both get Wonka bars and a hug from Willy! Don't worry, I am not planning to quit writing my **Changes** story. In fact, you can expect a new chapter for that one very, very soon! As usual, your reviews will determine whether or not I continue this, so please review! Oh, and, in case anyone's confused, this chapter is back in the present again. From here on out, the only parts of the story taking place in the past will be flashbacks. Well, on with the story!

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**Chapter 1: An Old Friend**

Ronnie sighed. It was almost time for her shift to be over, and frankly, she was very glad. Ronnie worked for Slugworth Chocolates Inc. Ronnie looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then, very carefully, she reached into her purse and pulled out a Wonka bar. Happily, she unwrapped it and began to eat it.

Ronnie secretly loved Wonka candy more than any other candy in the whole world--including Slugworth's. If it hadn't been for the fact that Willy Wonka refused to allow human workers in his factory, Ronnie would have gladly taken a job there. Come to think of it, there was something familiar about that name. Wonka…Wonka…Hadn't she once known someone named Wonka? Sighing again, she shrugged it off. She was probably just imagining things.

Ronnie looked down at her watch and was relieved to find that her shift was officially over. "Finally!" she said. Luckily, nobody seemed to have heard her! Gratefully, Ronnie gathered up her things and began heading for home. Unfortunately, Ronnie was so busy thinking about things that she forgot to watch where she was going. All of a sudden, with out warning, she crashed right into someone! Her stuff scattered everywhere as she fought to keep her balance. Luckily, she managed to stay upright.

Whoever Ronnie had just crashed into jumped away from her like they had been burned. Ronnie opened her mouth to apologize, but then had to quickly close it again to keep from laughing. The person she had crashed into was a man, a very strange looking man.

He appeared to be on the thin side and was wearing a long, black overcoat. His face was one of the palest Ronnie had ever seen. Ronnie couldn't tell what color the man's eyes were, because he was wearing a pair of huge, purple goggles. His chocolate brown hair was cut in a page-boy, and he wore a black top hat on his head. In addition to all of this, the man carried a cane that looked like it was filled with candy. It was hard to read his expression since he was wearing those goggles, but Ronnie could tell that he was NOT happy about being out in public.

Suddenly, the strange man said, "Good morning, Starshine! The Earth says 'Hello'!" Ronnie had to stifle a giggle. What a strange greeting (not to mention the fact that it was very nearly evening, and therefore nowhere near morning)! Still, Ronnie remembered her manners. "I'm so sorry, sir. I should have been watching where I was going," she apologized. The strange man just looked at her.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's just not used to being out in public," spoke up a friendly-sounding voice. It was then that Ronnie noticed the boy standing next to the strange man. Unlike the man, the boy was dressed very simply, in a sweater and a pair of brown pants. He had short, brown hair and brown eyes. "Oh, hi! My name's Veronica, but you can call me Ronnie," said Ronnie, extending her hand. The boy shook it. "I'm Charlie Bucket, and this is Willy Wonka," he said, indicating the strange man.

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**A/n:** I hope you enjoyed it! As usual, please review!

**Chapter 2 preview:** We find out Willy's thoughts on the meeting with Ronnie, and Willy (surprisingly) invites Ronnie to the factory for a tour!


	3. Chapter 2: The Amazing Chocolatier

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n:** Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been suffering from a bad case of writer's block. I love reviews, so please review! However, flames will NOT be tolerated! They will simply be thrown down the garbage shoot. If you don't like this story (or Willy Wonka romances in general), DON'T READ IT! It's as simple as that! Oh, and for those of you who are also following my **Baby** **Cakes** story, don't worry. I'm planning on writing another chapter for that one very soon!

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**Chapter 2: The Amazing Chocolatier**

Ronnie couldn't believe her ears! "You're Willy Wonka?" she gasped, addressing the strangely dressed man in front of her. The man giggled. "That's me! Willy Wonka, the amazing Chocolatier!" he responded.

Ronnie didn't quite know what to say. She had always dreamed of meeting Willy Wonka, but she never thought it would actually happen! "I love your chocolate!" she suddenly exclaimed. "So do I! I never expected to have so much in common!" Willy replied.

Willy felt extremely awkward. He wasn't used to such close contact with other people. Not to mention that he hated being out in public! He nervously gripped the top of his cane, desperately wishing he had brought some cue cards with him. "Do I have something on my face?" Ronnie suddenly asked. Willy blushed as he realized he'd been staring at her. He let out a nervous giggle. "You're really weird!" he said. "You know, you really shouldn't mumble," said Ronnie.

"I never mumble! I can't stand mumbling" exclaimed Willy. Before Ronnie could respond, Charlie suddenly spoke up. "Willy, we'd better get back to the factory soon or we'll be late for supper!" he said. Willy pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. He was shocked to see how late it was getting! Charlie was right, if they didn't hurry back to the factory, they would be late for supper, and Mrs. Bucket wouldn't be happy.

"Sorry, but we've got toget going," said Willy. Ronnie checked her wristwatch. "Oh my goodness! I didn't realize it was that late already!" she exclaimed. "Ronnie, would you, um, like to come and see the factory?" Willy asked suddenly. Ronnie's eyes lit up. "Of course I would!" she exclaimed. "'Kay, then! Be at the gates on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. sharp!" Willy said. Ronnie smiled. "Okay, see you then!" she said. Then, she turned and headed for home.

As Charlie and Willy headed back to the factory, Willy finally realized just what he'd done. "What was I thinking?" he exclaimed. "Willy, I think it's great that you invited her to the factory," said Charlie. "Charlie, for all we know, she could be a spy!" Willy wailed. "Willy, I'm sure she doesn't want to steal any of your recipes," Charlie said soothingly. Willy sighed. What had he gotten himself into?

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**A/n: **Sorry this chapter is so short. I promise I'll make the next one longer! Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm definently not planning on turning Ronnie into a Mary-Sue! Things aren't going to be perfect for her and Willy. They'll be running into some problems a little bit later in the story.

**Chapter 3 preview:** Willy takes Ronnie on a tour of the factory!


	4. Chapter 3: Factory Tour

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this story.

**A/n:** Well, here it is, the next chapter of **Confusion**. I hope Willy isn't too OOC this chapter! Oh, and as usual, please review!

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**Chapter 3: Factory Tour**

Charlie and Willy got back to the factory as fast as they could. Even so, they were still late for dinner. "Where have you two been? I was starting to get worried!" exclaimed Mrs. Bucket. "Sorry, Mom. We were on our way home for our walk, and a woman crashed right into Willy! The two of them got talking and we completely forgot the time," Charlie apologized.

"What's the woman's name?" asked Mrs. Bucket. "Veronica, but she prefers to be called Ronnie," said Charlie. Then, he remembered something else. "Mom, you'll never believe this, but Willy invited Ronnie to the factory!" he exclaimed.

Mrs. Bucket was shocked, to say the very least. "Willy, is this true?" she asked. "Unfortunately, yes," the Chocolatier groaned. "I think that's wonderful!" Mrs. Bucket said. "She's probably one of those despicable spies, though," said Willy. Mrs. Bucket had to stifle a giggle. "I'm sure she's not, Willy," she said reassuringly.

Suddenly, Mrs. Bucket thought of something important. "When's she coming to the factory, Willy?" she asked. "This Saturday. I'll never be ready in time!" exclaimed Willy. "The Oompa Loompas and I will help you," Charlie spoke up. Willy managed a smile. "'Kay," he agreed.

On Saturday morning, however, Willy was a nervous wreck. He barely ate any breakfast, even though Mrs. Bucket had made french toast, one of his all-time favorites. When it was nearly ten, he and Charlie headed to the front gates of the factory.

Meanwhile, Ronnie was waiting anxiously. She couldn't believe that she was about to see the world-famous Wonka factory! At exactly 10:00, the gates opened. "Please enter," said a voice (which Ronnie was positive was Willy's) over a loud speaker. Taking a deep breath, Ronnie did so. "Come forward," the voice instructed. Before long, Ronnie had reached the front doors of the factory and found herself face-to-face with Willy Wonka.

Willy giggled nervously. "Good morning Starshine!" he began. "The Earth says 'Hello'!" Ronnie finished. Willy smiled. "'Kay then, let's move along!" he announced. He led Ronnie inside the factory and down the front hallway.

"This is a very important room. After all, it is a chocolate factory!" Willy said excitedly as he stopped at the end of the hallway. "If I may ask, why is the door so small?" Ronnie asked. "To keep all the great big chocolaty flavor inside!" Willy answered. Then, he took a key out of his pocket, unlocked the door, and (to Ronnie's surprise) pushed on the wall.

Ronnie gasped as the wall (which she quickly realized was actually a door) opened up, revealing the most beautiful room she had ever seen. Tons of delicious candy plants were to be growing all over the place (at least, Ronnie assumed they were candy plants). And was that a chocolate river running through the middle of the room?

"This is incredible!" Ronnie breathed. "Try some of my meadow!" Willy offered. "You can eat the grass?" Ronnie asked, amazed. "'Course you can! Everything in this room is eatable, even me! But that is called cannibalism, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies," Willy explained. Ronnie blushed, although she wasn't quite sure why.

Willy gestured for Ronnie to help herself to whatever candy she wanted. He smiled as she ran around like a little girl, trying one candy after another. Just as Ronnie was finishing her candy binge, Willy heard the all too familiar sound of the candy boat coming down the river.

"All aboard!" Willy announced as the boat pulled up to the shore. Ronnie was amazed. She was going to get to ride in a pink candy boat? "I like your factory already!" she announced as she climbed into the boat. Willy grinned as he climbed in beside her. "Onward!" he told the strange little men who were rowing the boat.

Ronnie felt a tingle of excitement as the boat started to move. "Willy, what are those things?" she asked, pointing to the little men. "They're Oompa Loompas, imported direct from Loompaland!" Willy eagerly explained. "What's Loompaland?" asked Ronnie. Willy explained about how he had found the Oompa Loompas and brought them back to the factory after discovering how terrible Loompaland was.

Not long after Willy finished telling Ronnie about Loompaland, they came to the tunnel. "Full-speed ahead!" Willy announced. Ronnie squealed as they went over the chocolate rapids. This was exciting! Suddenly, the boat turned sharply and Ronnie lost her balance. She fell over, right into Willy's lap! Feeling awkward, Willy began absent-mindedly stroking Ronnie's hair. It felt soft and silky and…. "What am I doing?" Willy thought. Horrified, he pulled his hand away.

Ronnie couldn't believe it. Had Willy Wonka actually stroked her hair? It had sure felt nice! She started wondering how Willy's hair felt. "Stop that!" she mentally scolded herself. She had barely met Willy, and she was thinking like she…. "Stop the boat!" Willy said suddenly. Ronnie was extremely grateful for the distraction.

Willy opened the door to the Inventing Room and motioned Ronnie inside. "This is the most important room in the entire factory! Now, please enjoy yourself, but just don't touch anything…. 'Kay?" he announced.

Ronnie couldn't help but notice that Willy looked a lot more nervous than he had in the Chocolate Room. She realized that he was probably worried she might steal some of his recipes. After all that business with the spies, he had a right to be! Suddenly, she noticed a large, water-filled tank. An Oompa Loompa was in it, dressed in diving gear. He kept diving down to retrieve something. "What's this?" she asked Willy.

Willy jumped. Ronnie had startled him! He walked over to the tank. "I'll show you!" he said. The Oompa Loompa diver surfaced and handed him something. "These are Ever-lasting gobstoppers! They're for children who aren't given much allowance money," he explained. "Neat!" said Ronnie.

Willy held up the gobstopper. "You can suck on it all year, and it'll never get any smaller!" he announced. For some reason, Ronnie blushed. Willy shrugged and went on to explain about hair toffee.

After Willy had shown Ronnie the Inventing Room, he showed her the Nut Room. Then, he led her to the Glass Elevator. "This is the Great Glass…"Willy began, just before Ronnie ran smack-dab into the afore-mentioned object.

Embarrassed, Ronnie picked herself up. "You know, you ought to be more careful where you park that thing!" she said. Willy giggled. "My thoughts exactly!" Then Ronnie understood that Willy must have problems with running into the elevator, too.

Of course, Ronnie didn't realize that the elevator wasn't just an ordinary up and down one. When it leapt to the side, Ronnie, unprepared for it, fell over. To her absolute embarrassment, she landed right on top of Willy!

The Chocolatier felt extremely awkward with Ronnie leaning on him, pressing him against the wall of the elevator. As he looked down at Ronnie's face, now inches away from his own, he felt a strange warmth fill him. A few seconds later, he felt his blood flow change, heading southward.

Ronnie was surprised to find that it felt good to be leaning against Willy. In fact, she thought that she could stay like that forever! She reached up a hand and felt the smooth, soft skin of the Chocolatier's face.

Suddenly, Willy realized that the Oompa Loompas could easily see them through the walls of the elevator (it was made of glass, after all!). Embarrassed, he pushed Ronnie off of him. Ronnie blushed, snapping out of the moment. "I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry," she apologized. Willy giggled. "Well, on with the tour?" he asked.

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**A/n: **I hope you liked it!

**Chapter 4 preview:** The tour continues!


	5. Chapter 4: Suppertime Panic

**Disclaimer:** I wish I owned Willy…But I don't. I don't own anything else in this story, either.

**A/n: **I know, I know, this update is way overdue! Sorry I took so long. I promise to try my best not to take so long with the next one! I love reviews…but I only got two for the last chapter:-( Thank you to the two people who did take the time to review. I really appreciate it! That said…I hope you enjoy this chapter! As usual, please review! You'll get a hug from Willy if you do!

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**Chapter 4: Suppertime Panic**

Neither Ronnie nor Willy knew quite what to say after their brief "moment" in the elevator. Finally, Ronnie broke the silence. "I've never seen so many buttons in an elevator before!" she blurted out.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Ronnie felt silly. What a stupid thing to say! Willy, however, didn't seem to think so. "Each one takes you to a different room in the factory! Isn't that neat?" he exclaimed.

Ronnie couldn't help but chuckle at some of the names on the buttons: **Peach Mumble**, **Hats you don't Wear**, **Whizdoodles**…Then, suddenly, she noticed a button that made her blush. "Icky French Kisses? What exactly is that room for?" she asked.

Willy turned beet red. Of all the buttons in the elevator, why, oh why, did Ronnie have to notice that one? "Um…I'd rather not talk about that one," he said. "All of these rooms look interesting," Ronnie commented. Willy grinned. "Go ahead, pick one!" he said.

Before Willy or Ronnie could say or do anything more, they both heard a beeping noise. Willy made a face. "Why did I ever let Charlie talk me into carrying a pager?" he groaned as he reached into one of his coat pockets and pulled out a pager.

With an exasperated sigh, Willy pressed the "talk" button on the pager. "Yeah?" he said. "Willy, it's time for supper. Oh, and Mom said that Ronnie is more than welcome to join us if she'd like to," said a very familiar voice. "Is it that late already, Charlie?" Willy asked. "Yes, Willy," said Charlie. "'Kay," said Willy as he turned off the pager.

It didn't take Willy and Ronnie (who happily accepted the invitation) long to reach the Buckets' house in the Chocolate Room. Charlie was there to greet them.

"Come on, the others are waiting," he said as he led them into the house.

"There you are, Willy! I was worried you were going to skip supper again!" Mrs. Bucket said to the Chocolatier (needless to say, it wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Willy to decide to skip meals). Then, Mrs. Bucket turned to Ronnie. "You must be Ronnie! I'm very pleased to meet you!" she said as she held out her hand. Ronnie shook it. "I'm pleased to meet you, too, and thanks for inviting me to supper!" she said. "No problem!" said Mrs. Bucket.

Once Ronnie had been introduced to the rest of the Buckets, everyone sat down to eat. This turned out to be a bit of a problem, since the table was so small and barely had enough room for eight people, let alone nine. Finally, after a bit of shuffling, they managed.

"So, what do you think of the factory?" Mrs. Bucket asked Ronnie. "It's amazing!" Ronnie exclaimed. "I'm glad Willy invited you to the factory! If you ask me, he's been alone for far too long! It's about time he…" Grandpa George began. Mrs. Bucket nearly choked on her bite of chicken. "Dad!" she exclaimed. Willy, however, hadn't been paying attention.

For some reason that he couldn't quite figure out, the Chocolatier was feeling very weird. Not bad, exactly, just…weird. Whenever Ronnie looked at him, it sent a tingling sensation down his spine. He had an odd feeling in his stomach, sort of like nervous "butterflies". Unlike nervous "butterflies", however, it actually felt good!

To complicate matters even further, since everyone was so crowded around the small table and Ronnie was sitting next to Willy, she obviously couldn't help but bump up against him (in fact, if she had been sitting any closer to him, she would have been in his lap!). This caused strange warmth to spread throughout Willy's body. In addition, his trousers were getting very uncomfortable. "What in the name of chocolate is going on?" he wondered.

Mrs. Bucket couldn't help but notice the strange look on Willy's face. "Willy is everything all right?" she asked. "What? Oh, yeah! Everything's fine!" said Willy, sounding not at all convinced. Mrs. Bucket shrugged. Obviously, Willy didn't want to tell her what was bothering him. She decided it would be best to change the subject. "So, Ronnie, where do you work?" she asked.

Ronnie didn't answer. Instead, she stared at her plate. Suddenly, Mrs. Bucket felt guilty. After all, for all she knew, Ronnie had lost her job, the way Mr. Bucket had. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed…Did you lose your job?" she asked kindly. "No. I…" Ronnie stopped in mid-sentence and stared at her plate again.

Mrs. Bucket wasn't sure what to say. A tear trickled down Ronnie's face. "Ronnie, what's the matter?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "I…I've got to go!" said Ronnie. Then, to everyone's surprise, she got up and ran out of the house.

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**A/n:** Sorry about the cliffhanger! I plan to get the next chapter out in a couple of days, though, so you won't have to wait too long! As usual, please review!

**Chapter 5 preview:** Willy tries to figure out what his strange feelings mean, and we find out more about just why Ronnie ran away.


	6. Chapter 5: Uncertainty

**Disclaimer:** Nothing in this story is mine.

**A/n:** As you've probably already noticed, **Confusion** has had a rating change! It is now rated M. That's right, M! Also, this chapter is going to be slightly different than what I mentioned in the preview last time. This chapter will mostly be about Willy, and Ronnie will appear again next chapter. Sorry, but you'll have to wait to find out why Ronnie ran off after supper until the next chapter! There's a scene in this chapter, however, that should make up for it! Well, I hope you enjoy it, and, as usual, please review! Oh, and I had to make my own page breaks.

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**Chapter 5: Uncertainty**

The Buckets looked at each other in shock, wondering what had caused Ronnie to run off. Everybody was quiet for awhile, unsure of what to say. Suddenly, Willy jumped up from the table, a funny look on his face. "Willy, is everything okay?" asked Mrs. Bucket. "I…I have to go take a cold shower!" Willy exclaimed as he hurried out of the Buckets' house.

As Willy headed to the Glass Elevator, he noticed that several Oompa Loompas were giving him strange looks. Obviously, they had heard his little outburst about the cold shower. He blushed as he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for his living quarters.

When the elevator finally reached Willy's living quarters, he quickly stripped and headed into the bathroom. Then, he stepped into the shower and turned on the water. The Chocolatier felt extremely grateful as the cold, refreshing water ran down his body.

Before long, Willy began to relax. Ordinarily, he wasn't a person who sang in the shower. That night, however, was an exception. "Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing Chocolatier…" he sang. After several minutes, he was finally finished with his shower.

Much to Willy's relief, the shower had done the trick. He dried himself off with one of his favorite towels (monogrammed with his trademark W, of course) and headed back to his bedroom. Even though it was still kind of early, he decided to get ready for bed.

The Chocolatier looked through his pajamas, trying to figure out which pair he want to wear that night. Finally, he selected a purple silk pair and put them on. Then, he climbed into bed and grabbed a book that was sitting on his nightstand. It was called _Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light_, and it was one of his favorites (naturally, it was all about the history of chocolate). The Oompa Loompas had given it to him.

Willy read for quite awhile. He got about half-way through the book before he started feeling sleepy. Yawning, he placed a bookmark in the book and put it back on the table. He turned off the light and prepared to go to sleep…

_Willy was sitting by the Chocolate River. A women was sitting next to him. He thought it was Ronnie, but he wasn't sure. She was unbuttoning his waist coat (his outer coat had already been removed). Soon, the garment was off and flung to the side._

_As Willy stroked her hair, the woman went to work removing his shirt. Once it was off, she began running her fingers down the Chocolatier's bare flesh. "Ohhh!" Willy moaned. The woman smiled at him as she unzipped his trousers, causing him to moan again._

_Willy's moans intensified as the woman slipped his trousers down his legs and off of him. Then, she went back to stroking him. Not just on his chest this time, but all over. Suddenly, Willy felt a wave of pleasure and excitement wash over him, and he cried out…_

The Chocolatier awoke with a start. At first, as he tried to catch his breath, he wasn't sure what was going on. Then, he noticed a warm, sticky feeling between his legs. His eyes went wide with surprise as he realized what had happened to him. "I haven't had one of those since I was a teenager!" he said aloud.

Still feeling shocked, Willy went into the bathroom to clean himself up. He felt extremely confused. Why on Earth had that happened to him? And what was he supposed to do now? Willy still hadn't come up with any answers by the time he joined the Buckets for breakfast.

It didn't take the Buckets very long to notice that something was up with Willy. He was being much quieter than usual. He also seemed extremely jumpy. "Willy, is something wrong?" Mrs. Bucket asked gently. Willy giggled nervously. "No! Haha, you're really weird!" he said. The Buckets weren't fooled, though. Willy didn't even eat half of his breakfast, which was extremely unusual for him.

"Well, I must be off! Lots of candies to check on, you know," said Willy as he got up from the table. He was relieved that he hadn't had to tell the Buckets about what had happened. Willy was just about to check in with the Chocolate Room Oompa Loompas when he heard a familiar voice say, "Willy, wait!" It was Mr. Bucket.

Willy sighed. "Terrific, just what I need!" he thought. "I really need to get to work. I need to make sure everything's running okay, talk to the Oompa Loompas, look at some of my newest inventions…" Willy began. Mr. Bucket interrupted him. "Willy, I think we need to have a talk," he said.

Willy knew he didn't have much of a choice. Like the rest of the Buckets, Mr. Bucket could be extremely stubborn when he wanted to be. "Let's go over there, 'kay?" Willy suggested, pointing to an area of the Chocolate Room that was pretty much free of Oompa Loompas. "That's fine," said Mr. Bucket. So, Willy led the way to the spot he had suggested.

"Willy, I can tell that something is bothering you," Mr. Bucket said. "I really don't want to talk about it," said Willy. Suddenly, Mr. Bucket remembered the Chocolatier's "cold shower" outburst from the night before. "Willy, if this is about some male problem, you don't have to worry. I'm a man, too, after all," he said.

Willy took a deep breath. He told Mr. Bucket about his dream. He finished up with, "Then I woke up and realized…um…" Mr. Bucket understood. "Willy, I know what you're talking about," he said gently. "But why did it happen?" Willy asked.

At first, Mr. Bucket wasn't sure how to answer Willy's question. Then, he remembered the way Willy had been acting around Ronnie the night before. "Willy, how do you feel about Ronnie?" he asked. "I…She's 'kay, I guess," Willy answered. Mr. Bucket knew there was no sense beating around the bushing. "It seems to me that you really like her, Willy," he said. "Just because she's a girl doesn't mean I like her. Now, I really must be getting to work," said Willy. With that, he got up and headed for the elevator.

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**A/n:** I hope you enjoyed it! I would like to give a special thank you to my friend **pralinkova princezna**. She helped inspire a lot of this chapter!

**Chapter 6 preview:** Willy thinks about what Mr. Bucket said to him, and we finally find out why Ronnie ran out at suppertime!


	7. Chapter 6: Feelings and Flashbacks

**Disclaimer: **Apart from Mrs. Brooks and the un-named teasers, I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **Well, long time no see! Make that VERY long time no see! I'm sure most of you had pretty much lost hope of this story ever being updated (let alone completed). After all, it's been close to three years since the last update! To be perfectly honest, I never expected to update this story, either. I lost interest in CATCF, and then various personal issues (nothing too awful, don't worry!) and other things kept coming up. However, recently something unforeseen happened: I became inspired to read some CATCF romance fanfics (I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for romance!), some of which hadn't been updated for a year or more. When I saw that, I came to regret leaving this story un-updated for so long. I realized that I wanted to continue it and, hopefully, complete it. I hope to see this story through to completetion this time around, but I know better than to make any guarentees! With that said, picking up where you left off almost three years ago is very hard to do, so I apologize in advance if this chapter seems a little different than the previous ones. The story may end up taking a slightly different direction than I orginally intended, but I assure you that, other than that, the basic plot will remain unchanged, and I'll do my best to make this and future chapters blend in with the others! If any of you have actually stuck with me and very patiently waited for updates these almost three years (I don't blame you one little bit if you didn't!), I recommend that you go back and re-read the prologue and first five chapters to refresh your memories before reading this one. Also, to anyone who has stuck with me all this time, I cannot tell you how immensly thankfull I am! Oh, and just so no one gets confused (no pun intended!), this chapter will be focusing on Ronnie and her feelings (yes, it IS slightly different than what the preview last chapter suggested, as Willy does not make an appearence this chapter). Willy will re-appear next chapter! And as always, please review! Flames, of course, will simply be thrown in the Chocolate River! Well, enough with this extremely long author's note! Onto my Valentine's Day gift to you, the extremely long over-due 6th chapter of Confusion!

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**Chapter 6: Feelings and Flashbacks**

Ronnie, meanwhile, was dealing with some confusing feelings of her own. "How could I possibly tell Willy I work for Slugworth?" she thought as she left the factory. After all, if she HAD told him that she worked for Slugworth, it would probably convince him that she was a spy trying to steal his secret recipes! Even so, she could have kicked herself for running out on him and the Buckets like that! She sighed in exasperation. "I wish I'd never taken that stupid job in the first place!" she suddenly blurted out. Then she realized just what she'd said and clapped her hand over her mouth. She quickly glanced around, and was relieved to see that there didn't appear to be anyone within hearing distance.

Soon after her little outburst, Ronnie reached her apartment, which, ironically, was above Willy Wonka's original candy shop. As she unlocked the door and stepped inside, Ronnie was surprised to discover that, for once, she wasn't happy to be home. Usually she was thrilled to get home, since it usually meant the end of another long day at Slugworth's. Tonight, however, she felt, well, she wasn't sure how she felt. Sighing, she went into the living room, set her purse on the coffee table, and sat on the couch.

"What a day!" Ronnie said aloud. Actually, she had to admit, that was quite an understatement! Naturally, Ronnie had expected the day to be eventful. After all, it's not every day that one gets to visit a chocolate factory, let alone the biggest, most famous chocolate factory in the entire world! She had expected to enjoy the tour, and to be surprised and amazed by some of the things in the factory (just like practically everyone else, she knew from reading and watching the news that there was some incredible stuff in it).

Ronnie had not, however, expected to end up feeling so strange. At dinner, being seated next to Willy had an odd effect on her body. Her heart had started tap-dancing in her chest, and her stomach had decided to do gymnastics. Needless to say, she ended up not having much of an appetite! Then there was the whole incident with being asked about her job and running out of the factory. "Willy must think I'm an idiot!" Ronnie thought. As she continued to ponder the events of the evening, Ronnie suddenly remembered something…

_It was Monday morning, and the school week had just begun. Eight-year-old Ronnie sat at her desk, listening as the teacher, Mrs. Brooks, took attendance. "Veronica Wells?" she called. "Here!" Ronnie answered. So far, all the students in Ronnie's class were present. However, then Mrs. Brooks called out the next name: "Willy Wonka?" This time, there was no answering, "Here!" or "Present!" _

_Since Willy had one of the best attendance records in the class, Ronnie was a little worried. She hoped that nothing had happened to him or his father! Although the other kids thought Willy was strange, there was something about him that Ronnie liked. In fact, she and Willy were alike in several ways. _

_Both were only children who were being raised by single parents (although Ronnie's situation was the reverse of Willy's: While Willy lived with his father and no mother, Ronnie lived with her mother and no father), and both loved candy. Well, what Willy actually loved was the idea of it, since his father never let him have any (which Ronnie felt awful about. She couldn't understand how Dr. Wonka could deny his son candy.)._

_Suddenly, a boy burst into the classroom, interrupting Ronnie's thoughts. It was Willy Wonka, and judging from the way he was gasping for breath, it sounded like he had been running. Then Ronnie noticed something that made her eyes nearly pop out of her head. Willy was wearing some sort of metal contraption on his head. It consisted of thick wires that encircled his head, eventually entering his mouth. When he opened his mouth, she saw something else: braces. _

_She assumed the metal contraception was a type of headgear. It looked more like a medieval torture device to her, though! Her mouth hurt just looking at it! _

"_I'm sorry for being late, Mrs. Brooks. My dad just put these braces on me last night, and he had to make some adjustments to them this morning," Willy apologized. "I understand, Willy. I'm still going to have to mark you tardy, though," Mrs. Brooks said gently. Several of Ronnie and Willy's classmates snickered at this. Willy blushed. "Sorry, Mrs. Brooks," he said again. Then he walked to his desk, looking sad and ashamed. Ronnie felt bad for him. Even the most punctual person can be late sometimes._

_Unfortunately, things didn't get much better at recess. "Hey, look, it's an alien!" a boy said, pointing at Willy. "Hey, metal-face, do you get any radio stations with that thing?" another boy teased. "I know, we should call him jaws from now on!" a girl said. "Good one!" said one of the boys. The other teasers started laughing and calling out even more insults. Ronnie could see tears in Willy's eyes and she felt horrible for him._

_She knew what it was like to be teased, as the kids often teased her as well. Mostly they called her "baby" for being so shy. She was also sensitive and cried easily, which unfortunately, had earned her the nickname of "crybaby". The fact that the kids were now teasing Willy as well made her blood boil. She wished, for about the ten millionth time, that she wasn't so darn shy… _

Ronnie shook herself. This was no time to be having flashbacks! It was getting late, and she had to go to work the next morning! That thought made her groan. Other than the fact that it meant she got to work with candy, she hated her job at Slugworth's. The actual work wasn't so bad, but Slugworth, well, frankly he made Ronnie want to vomit. Even though Willy no longer employed human workers and thus sending in spies was next to impossible, Slugworth still tried to figure out ways to steal his secret recipes.

In addition, saying that Slugworth wasn't the nicest boss was an understatement. He rarely let his workers take days off, holidays included. Whenever Ronnie or one of her co-workers messed up, Slugworth would give them a harsh lecture (which was actually usually more yelling than lecture).

As if that weren't enough, Ronnie and her co-workers were only allowed two breaks a day (one for lunch and another as just a regular break). Other than that, they were expected to remain at their stations at all times. Needless to say, Ronnie monitored her fluid intake very carefully while she was at work! She wished she could quit her job, but that wasn't an option because she needed the money (which was why she had taken the job in the first place. She had thought she would like it since it involved her dream job, working with candy. What a mistake!). At any rate, she'd need to find a new job first, and she had no idea where to begin looking (a logical choice would have been a job at the candy shop she lived above, but, unfortunately, they weren't hiring at the moment).

Groaning, Ronnie headed into her bedroom to get ready for bed. She put on her nightgown, which was purple. "Just like Willy's eyes!" she thought. It was also soft and warm. "Just like Willy's hand when he was stroking my hair!" Not to mention how warm and soft he'd felt when she had fallen on him in the elevator… "Stop that!" she scolded herself. She shook herself and headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth. As she reached for the tube of toothpaste, an inspiration suddenly hit her. "Wouldn't it be great if there was chocolate toothpaste? I wonder if Willy has ever considered the idea?" she wondered aloud.

The moment she finished brushing her teeth, Ronnie ran back into her bedroom and wrote down the idea for chocolate toothpaste on the notepad she kept on her bedside table. She would definitely have to mention the idea to Willy. "If he ever actually wants to see me again, that is," she thought as she climbed into bed.

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**Chapter 7 preview: **Valentine's Day is approaching. Will Charlie convince Willy to invite Ronnie to the factory for the holiday? And is it because he wants Willy to finish giving Ronnie the factory tour...or does Charlie have other motives in mind?!


	8. Chapter 7: Absent Minded Chocolatier

**Disclaimer: **I only own Mrs. Brooks, and, with the exception of Ruthie, Terrance (they, like Ronnie, are kids Willy goes trick-or-treating with in his flashback) and Ronnie, Willy's classmates.

**A/N:** Chapter 7 is here! That said, no reviews for the last chapter? Come on, I know you guys can do better! I love reviews, and more importantly, they're what keep me motivated to write! Flames will of course be thrown right in the Chocolate River, but all other reviews are more than welcome! :) Well, I don't really have much else to say about this chapter other than enjoy! :)

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"Willy, watch what you're doing!" Charlie exclaimed. "Huh? What?" Willy asked, sounding dazed. "You're about to invent exploding taffy!" Charlie said frantically. He and Willy were in the Inventing Room, working on two different projects at once (which was something they often did). In this case, they were experimenting with a new type of taffy and trying to perfect the Exploding Candy formula. The only problem was, Willy had very nearly poured the taffy mixture into the Exploding Candy formula.

Luckily, Charlie had finally managed to get his attention. "Whoops!" Willy said, blushing crimson as he set down the taffy mixture. Charlie sighed. Ever since Ronnie's visit to the factory, Willy hadn't been himself. His mind seemed to be on another planet. As a result, Charlie was having to correct HIS mistakes rather than the other way around. "Willy, I'm starting to worry about you. You're making mistakes left and right, and your mind just doesn't seem to be on candy making," Charlie said. "I'm fine, Charlie. Stop worrying so much, 'kay? Now, let's get back to work! The candy isn't going to invent itself!" Willy responded, not sounding at all convincing.

Charlie shrugged. He knew it was useless to try to get Willy to tell him what was really on his mind. "I suppose we should check the calendar to see if any holidays are coming up," Charlie said (as they obviously needed to start work on holiday candy several weeks or even months before the holiday, they needed to check the calendar regularly to make sure no holidays were sneaking up on them!). "Good idea!" said Willy as he reached into one of his pockets and took out the planner he always carried with him.

"Now, let's see…its January 18th ..." Willy muttered, mostly to himself, as he flipped through the calendar. "Wait a minute!" thought Charlie. If it was January, that meant the next month was February, and on February 14th was… "Valentine's Day is next month," Charlie informed his mentor. "Valentine's Day? You mean the holiday that's about l-l-l-," Willy stammered. "Love? Yes, Willy," Charlie answered, just barely managing to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Oh," said Willy, suddenly getting a distant look on his face.

Then something occurred to Charlie. "Willy, have you ever celebrated Valentine's Day before?" he asked. Willy didn't answer, instead, he got the blank look on his face that usually meant he was having a flashback…

_It was a Wednesday morning in early February, and school had just begun. Mrs. Brooks had just finished taking attendance, and eight-year-old Willy knew that meant only one thing: Share Time. Basically, it was the third-grade equivalent of Show and Tell (or at least Mrs. Brooks' version of it!). Instead of bringing things in to show the class, Mrs. Brooks would ask the class to discuss a certain topic. On Mondays it was what the students did over the weekend. On Fridays it was usually about what the students' weekend plans were . On the other three days, the topics could be anything from where the students would go for vacation if they could pick any place they wanted to upcoming holidays._

_While most of his classmates enjoyed Share Time, Willy did not. More often than not, didn't wasn't able to contribute to the discussion since his father was so strict and didn't allow him to do a whole lot. Inwardly, he sighed and prepared for today's discussion topic._

"_We have a holiday coming up in a couple of weeks. That holiday, of course, is Valentine's Day. So today's Share Time topic is Valentine's Day," said Mrs. Brooks. Then she continued, "What do you think of when you think of Valentine's Day?"_

_Several students raised their hands. Mrs. Brooks called on a girl named Ruthie first. "Hearts, love, and chocolate," she said. Mrs. Brooks wrote those three things on the blackboard (why, Willy had no idea). Then she called on a a boy named Henry. "Candy and flowers," he said. After writing those things on the blackboard, Mrs. Brooks called on Ronnie, a girl who, Willy thought, was the nicest kid in the class. The two weren't really friends, as they'd never even spoken (mostly because Willy was too shy to approach her), but Willy liked her because she was pretty much the only kid who never teased him. "Hugs and kisses," she said in answer to Mrs. Brooks' question. "EW! GROSS!!!!" a boy named Terrance exclaimed rather loudly. Several of Willy's classmates thought that was hysterical and started giggling. A few of them laughed so hard they gave themselves the hiccups! "Class, please calm down!" said Mrs. Brooks._

_Once the kids had managed to calm down, Mrs. Brooks asked the next discussion question. "Obviously different people celebrate Valentine's Day in different ways. How does your family celebrate the holiday?" she asked. Willy sighed. Once again, he couldn't participate in the discussion. That's because he and his father never did anything to celebrate Valentine's Day._

_Well, that wasn't entirely true. Dr. Wonka always closed his practice and took the day off on Valentine's Day. Other than that, all he seemed to want on Valentine's Day was to be left alone. Willy also noticed that his father always seemed quite sad on Valentine's Day. He had tried to ask his father why he behaved so strangely every Valentine's Day, but all Dr. Wonka would say was "It's really none of your business, Willy". The only clue Willy had ever found was a picture his father had dropped one Valentine's Day as he was heading off to his room to be alone._

_Willy had been surprised to find that the picture was of a woman who seemed to look an awful lot like him. She had long, flowing brown hair, purple eyes, and a huge smile. As far as Willy could tell, she looked like she was a person who loved life and was fun to be around. Right as he was thinking that, his father walked into the room. Then, to Willy's surprise, he snatched the picture away from him and said in a rather sharp voice, "Mind your own business, Willy!"..._

"Willy!" Charlie called, snapping Willy out of the flashback. "I'm sorry, I was having a flashback," the chocolatier said. "So, have you ever celebrated Valentine's day before?" Charlie asked. "No, Charlie, I haven't," Willy said softly. "Well, you never finished giving Ronnie the factory tour," said Charlie. "That's 'cus she ran out on me!" Willy insisted. Charlie sighed. "Willy, I know that! I just meant that maybe you should offer to complete the tour," he told his mentor.

"Hey, yeah!" Willy exclaimed, sounding more enthusiastic than he had since Ronnie's last visit to the factory. "You sound awfully eager to see her again," Charlie teased. Willy blushed. "Well, can I help it if I like showing off my factory?" he retorted. Charlie had to stifle a giggle. That was the silliest excuse he had ever heard! After all, it was no secret that Willy hated letting "outsiders" into his factory. "Maybe you could invite her to come to the factory on Valentine's Day," Charlie teasingly suggested. "Great idea! I can ask her what she thinks of our new Valentine's candies," Willy replied, completely missing the point.

Shortly after that rather awkward (in Willy's opinion, anyway!) exchange in the Inventing Room, Willy and Charlie were sitting down to supper with the Buckets. "So, boys, how's your day been?" Mrs. Bucket asked. Charlie hesitated. He didn't want to embarrass Willy by telling his parents and grandparents that the Chocolatier's mind was basically in the ozone layer. He WAS a little concerned about Willy's sudden absent-mindedness, but he figured he could talk to his mother about it in private later.

So he settled for sharing the news about inviting Ronnie back to the factory. "It's been going pretty good. Willy's going to invite Ronnie back to the Factory," he said. "That's wonderful, Charlie!" said Mrs. Bucket. "So, whens the big day?" Mr. Bucket asked. "Valentine's Day," said Charlie. "Yeah, Valentine's Day!" Willy said, sounding both nervous and eager. "I think Willy's got a crush on her!" Charlie teased. The Chocolatier promptly turned beet red. "I do NOT!" he exclaimed.

Mrs. Bucket decided it was probably best to change the subject a little. "So, what exactly are you planning to do for Ronnie's next visit to the factory?" she asked. "Why, finish showing her the factory, of course!" Willy answered. "I know that, Willy. I just thought that, since it was Valentine's Day, you might want to do something special for her," said Mrs. Bucket.

"Like what?" asked Willy. He didn't want to admit that the real reason he was asking that question was that he had no idea what sort of things one was supposed to do on Valentine's Day (after all, he had never celebrated the holiday before, let alone with a woman!)! "Well, you could have a picnic in the chocolate room," Mrs. Bucket suggested. "Joe usually gives me flowers on Valentine's Day. Maybe Ronnie would like some, too," Grandma Josephine chimed in. "Unfortunately, due to the fact that we were so poor before, I was never able to get anything for Nora for Valentine's Day. However, I always wanted to get her chocolate, because she loves it as much as Charlie does!" spoke up Mr. Bucket.

"Actually, you gave me the best gift of all...yourself!" said Mrs. Bucket. In response, Mr. Bucket leaned over and tenderly kissed his wife. "EWWWWWWW!" exclaimed Charlie. Mr. and Mrs. Bucket laughed gently. Charlie was definitely a 10-year-old boy! "So, why don't we brainstorm some other things Willy could do for Ronnie on Valentine's Day," suggested Charlie, eager to change the subject. "Good idea! Willy, you could sing her a song," said Mr. Bucket. "Or...What were some of her favorite things from last time she was here?" asked Mrs. Bucket.

Willy hadn't been expecting that question. "Well, uh...I think she liked the boat ride on the chocolate river. There was also the glass elevator..." he finally said, trailing off as he remembered just what had happened in the elevator. The memory made him blush, for what felt like the millionth time that day. "Willy, is something wrong?" Mrs. Bucket asked. Willy sighed. Leave it to her to notice that he was blushing! "No, I'm 'kay," he answered.

Mrs. Bucket shrugged. She had the sneaking suspicion that something had happened between Willy and Ronnie in that elevator. If Willy didn't want to talk about it, though, she certainly wasn't going to force him to! Instead she said, "Well, since she liked the boat ride, maybe you could take her on another one". "You could make her a card, too," suggested Charlie. Willy, however, was no longer paying attention. For some reason, he found himself imagining how Ronnie's lips would feel against his own. "Wait a minute! Since when do I want to kiss her?" he suddenly silently asked himself.

The chocolatier tried to shrug off the thought. What was it about Ronnie that kept making him feel so strange? Then, suddenly, Willy remembered Charlie's words: "I think he has a crush on her!" Was it possible, he wondered, that he really WAS in love with Ronnie?

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**Chapter 8 Preview:** Ronnie manages to get herself in trouble at work....and she recieves an invitation from a certain chocolatier!


	9. Chapter 8: Chocolate Disaster

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything in this story!

**A/N:** Finally, another chapter! As always, flames will be thrown in the chocolate river, but all other reviews are more than welcome! :) Oh, and thank you to the one person who reviewed the last chapter! :)

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Ronnie sighed. Things had not been going well for her at work. Ever since she'd made an idiot out of herself by running out of the factory, she had been feeling rather depressed. That and the fact that she couldn't seem to stop thinking about Willy hadn't exactly made it easy to concentrate on work! Today, unfortunately, was no exception. Her day had begun with her oversleeping after failing to set her alarm the night before. As a result, she almost went over the speed limit trying to get to work on time! Luckily, she DID arrive at work on time, but that was pretty much the only good part of the day.

The minute she arrived at work, Ronnie ducked into the bathroom to make sure she hadn't put her uniform on backwards or something in her hurry to get to work on time. Luckily, she hadn't. She almost wished she had, though, as the front of the shirt said "Slugworth Chocolates Incorporated", accompanied by the company logo. It was bad enough that she basically had to advertise for that despicable excuse for a candy-maker. Even worse than that, however, was the fact that Slugworth's name and company logo were printed right across her "assets", if you will.

She couldn't decide if Slugworth was a pervert, had a twisted sense of humor, or both. In any case, Ronnie never had been able to stand that shirt, and today she hated it more than ever. "I would love to burn this awful thing!" she thought (luckily not out loud!). Reluctantly, she headed to her work station.

Because there were so many different jobs that needed to be done in the factory and not all the candies were worked on every day, Ronnie and her co-workers had different tasks each day, based on what needed to be done on that particular day. Today, Ronnie's task was to work the machines that mixed the batter for Slugworth's Chocolate Bars. As the mixers hummed away, Ronnie noticed her reflection in the shiny metal of one of them. As she looked at her reflection's earrings, she suddenly had an idea: Candy earrings! She was actually a bit surprised that Willy hadn't thought of that before.

"I've got to write that idea down!" Ronnie thought. She reached into her purse and pulled out the notepad she always carried with her. "Candy earrings," she wrote. Then she pulled another pad out of her purse, her sketch pad. Smiling, she began drawing designs for candy earrings. She sketched for awhile until she was suddenly startled by a loud, mechanical nose. It sounded like gears sticking together or something. With a sinking feeling, Ronnie realized what was happening. "The mixers!" she cried. She had gotten so into sketching that she had completely forgotten to watch them!

She quickly ran over to the controls and checked the temperature and pressure gauges. To her horror, both were increasing at an alarming rate. Then, before she could even think about what to do about the malfunctioning machine, chocolate began spraying everywhere. Ronnie ran to the machine's emergency shut-off button and pushed it. Despite her quick reaction, the room looked as though a chocolate tornado had hit it. Practically everything in the room, including Ronnie, was covered in chocolate. Then Ronnie did something that she almost never did: She shouted a word that would make Mr. and Mrs. Bucket cover Charlie's ears.

Just when Ronnie was thinking that things couldn't possibly get any worse, the door open and Slugworth walked into the room. Obviously he had been walking by and heard Ronnie's outburst. "He WOULD pick right now to walk by!" Ronnie thought. "What is the meaning of this?" Slugworth demanded. "The machine broke down," Ronnie said meekly. "I can see that! Now go clean yourself up and then report to my office!" Slugworth said. "Yes, sir," Ronnie replied. With that, Slugworth turned and left the room.

When Ronnie reached the shower room (considering the often messy nature of working with candy, showers were a necessity at Slugworth's!), she realized that she had quite a dilemma on her hands. Her clothes were covered in chocolate and obviously needed to be removed to be cleaned properly (not to mention the fact that the wetness and stickiness of the chocolate on her clothes was making Ronnie very uncomfortable!). However, she didn't have any spare clothes with her (ordinarily she did bring a spare uniform with her, just in case, but in her hurry to get to work on time that morning, she'd forgotten.). Obviously she couldn't just waltz into Slugworth's office naked!

Finally, Ronnie decided to take off her clothes, scrub them off as best she could, and put them back on once she was finished showering. She didn't exactly relish the thought of putting dirty clothes back on after showering, but she didn't have any other options. So Ronnie stripped, showered, and did her best to scrub off her clothes. Unfortunately, all she succeeded in doing was making them look horribly stained instead of like she had just taken a bath in chocolate.

After showering and dressing, Ronnie took a deep breath and headed for Slugworth's office. Slugworth didn't even bother to say hello. He just pointed to a chair and said, "sit." Ronnie did as she was told. "Veronica Wells, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! How could you have let this happen?!" Slugworth roared. "I was just writing down and drawing an idea for a new candy to pass the time while the mixers mixed the chocolate, and..." Ronnie began. Slugworth cut her off. "You know that you are not to focus on anything other than the task at hand when you are working in this factory!" he shouted at her. This was followed by him hurling several expletives at her.

"I'm sorry," Ronnie said softly as she fought back tears. Those awful names that Slugworth had just called her really hurt. "Like that's going to fix anything! Your pay for today has been reduced by half, and if you mess up just one more time, you will not get ANY pay for today!" Slugworth shouted. Then he gave Ronnie her assignment for the remainder of her shift.

Luckily, Ronnie managed to finish her shift without any more mishaps. Even so, she had never been so glad to leave work in her entire life! Gratefully, she headed for home, stopping to pick up her mail on the way. "What a rotten day!" Ronnie said aloud as she collapsed onto the couch. Feeling rather depressed, she began to look through her mail. Most of it was junk...but there was one very peculiar envelope. It was pink and had pictures of strawberries on it. When she looked at the return address, she nearly fell off the couch. It was from Willy Wonka!

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**A/N: **Sorry about the cliffhanger! I just couldn't resist!

**Chapter 9 Preview: **We find out just what it is that Willy sent Ronnie, and Ronnie experiences a bad case of nerves!


	10. Chapter 9: Valentines and Jitters

**Disclaimer: **With the exception of Mrs. Brooks and Willy and Ronnie's unnamed classmates, I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **Thank you to the people who reviewed the last chapter! I know I've said this before, but I LOVE reviews, so please keep them coming (flames, of course, will be thrown in the Chocolate River!)!

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Ronnie was shocked, to say the very least, that Willy Wonka had sent her something. After the way she'd run out of the factory on him, she was amazed he was still interested in talking to her. Not to mention the fact that it was no secret that Willy was very shy and dealing with people wasn't exactly his favorite thing. "Does that mean that he..." Ronnie interrupted her own thoughts by shaking herself. "Calm down, Ronnie! Open the envelope and see what's inside before you get all excited!" she chided herself.

Taking deep breaths to calm herself, Ronnie opened the envelope. Inside was a large piece of card stock shaped like a candy bar. On it was written the following message:

_Good Morning, Starshine! The Earth says Hello! As you know, your tour of my marvelous factory was cut short due to unforeseen circumstances. I would like to invite you to come back to the factory so we can finish it. If you wish to accept this invitation, please come to the factory gates on February 14th at 10:00 a.m. sharp! I do hope you are interested in finishing the tour!_

_Willy Wonka_

_P.S. The envelope is one of my newest inventions: eatable envelopes! I hope you enjoy it!_

Ronnie was so happy that she got up and started dancing around the room! Willy actually wanted to finish giving her the tour! As she was dancing around, Ronnie suddenly realized that something that made her stop in her tracks. "February 14th? Wait a minute, that's Valentine's Day!" she thought aloud. Did that mean he had ulterior motives? "Where did THAT thought come from?" Ronnie asked herself. Whatever Willy's reasons for scheduling the tour on Valentine's Day were, it was definitely going to be fun spending the holiday with him at his factory. Thinking about Willy and Valentine's Day suddenly made Ronnie remember something....

_It was Valentine's Day, and Ronnie and her fellow classmates were preparing to celebrate. Earlier in the week, everyone in the class, including Mrs. Brooks, had made "Valentine Mailboxes". Now it was time for Ronnie, her classmates, and Mrs. Brooks to deliver their Valentines. Obviously, it was strongly recommended that the students give a Valentine to everyone in their class, but it wasn't a requirement._

_Ronnie wished it were, though, because she had a feeling that Willy Wonka wasn't going to get very many Valentines. With that in mind, she had made Willy a very special Valentine (Ronnie always chose to make her Valentines rather than buy them, as, even at that young age, she was very artistic and loved being creative!). On the front, she had drawn a picture of Willy and written: "You're One of a Kind...." Then, on the inside, she had written, "...That's why I like you!"_ _She had signed the Valentine "From your Secret Admirer"._

_She also included a chocolate with each of her Valentines...including Willy's. She knew Willy's father didn't allow him to eat candy...but she also knew that what Dr. Wonka didn't know wouldn't hurt him (or Willy!). As she slipped Willy's Valentine in into his box, she smiled. She couldn't wait to see Willy's reaction to her Valentine. Unfortunately, Ronnie and her classmates weren't allowed to check their Valentine Mailboxes and open their Valentines until the afternoon!_

_After what seemed like forever, the afternoon finally arrived and it was time for the class Valentine's Day party! Mrs. Brooks handed out cupcakes (which Ronnie's mother and a few of the other students' mothers had baked for the occasion) and "Valentine Punch" (a.k.a red Kool-Aid.)._

_Then she announced, "Okay, class, you may check your Valentine Mailboxes". Ronnie and her classmates happily jumped up and ran to the Valentine Mailboxes. "Kids, no running!" Mrs. Brooks gently scolded them. Ronnie and her classmates quickly obeyed. "No running" happened to be one of the classroom rules, but every once in awhile Ronnie and her classmates got so excited they forgot. _

_Ronnie picked up her Mailbox and headed back to her desk. She then opened the box and took out her Valentines. She had gotten one from everyone in the class, including Mrs. Brooks. As she opened her Valentines, she glanced over at Willy. She was sad to see that he had only received two Valentines, the one from her, and one she assumed was from Mrs. Brooks (naturally Mrs. Brooks gave a Valentine to each of her students)._

_Suddenly, as Ronnie watched Willy open his two Valentines, she saw a huge smile spread across his face, and he hugged the Valentine to his chest. Ronnie knew that it was the one she had given him. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who noticed Willy hugging the Valentine. Some of her and Willy's classmates began snickering. "Willy's got a girlfriend!" they taunted. Willy blushed crimson and hurriedly set down the Valentine. Unfortunately, he bumped his glass of "Valentine Punch" in the process...spilling it all over the floor._

"_What a klutz!" jeered one of Ronnie and Willy's classmates. "Hey, it's spilly Willy!" cried another one. "Spilly Willy, spilly Willy!" chanted most of the rest of their classmates. "No name calling!" Mrs. Brooks said sternly (needless to say, "no name calling" was another classroom rule). Then she turned to Willy. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Brooks. I didn't mean to spill," Willy said softly. "It's all right, Willy. It was an accident, and accidents happen. Just get some paper towels from the boys' room and mop it up," Mrs. Brooks said gently._

_As Willy went off to get the towels, Ronnie went back to opening her Valentines. She soon came to an envelope that was a different size than the rest. She opened it and found a homemade Valentine. On the front was a drawing of a girl who was obviously supposed to be her. Underneath the picture was written: "I think you are kind, I think you are cute..." On the inside was written: "...I'm glad that you don't mind that I'm a little different! Thanks for not teasing me! It was signed: Your Secret Admirer. Ronnie knew immediately that it was from Willy..._

Ronnie snapped out of her flashback, blushing at the thought of Willy finding her cute way back in third grade. Then she remembered the eatable envelope. "How did he know I love strawberries?" she wondered. She picked up the envelope and began eating it. It was delicious, the best strawberry-flavored product she'd ever tasted! Suddenly she was more excited than ever about going back to the factory!

___________________

Several days later, it was February 13th, the day before the factory visit, and Ronnie was no longer excited. Instead, she was a nervous wreck. Somehow she managed to get through her shift at Slugworth's okay, but once she got home, her nerves had kicked in, big time. She stood in front of her closet, trying to figure out what to wear for the tour. She wanted it to be comfortable and casual, but at the same time she didn't want it to be so casual that she looked like she'd just come from working in the garden or something!

Ronnie pulled a skirt out of her closet. It fit the comfortable and casual bill....but as she looked at it she suddenly remembered the glass elevator. She definitely did not want a bunch of Oompa Loompas (or Charlie's family, for that matter) to see her underwear! A skirt, therefore, was out of the question. Ronnie sighed and tossed it onto her bed. She looked at several more outfits, but none of them seemed quite right. Before long, she had about half her wardrobe laying on her bed.

Just as she was about to give up, a shirt caught her eye. It had a big heart in the middle of it. Above the heart was the letter "I" and below it was the word "Chocolate". The "I love chocolate" shirt was perfect, Ronnie thought, considering she was going to a Chocolate Factory AND the tour was on Valentine's Day. She quickly found a pair of pants to go with it and breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally!" she cheered.

With her outfit picked out, Ronnie headed into the bathroom and began taking a bath. She wanted to make sure she looked her best for Willy! As she soaked in the tub, she wondered if she should give Willy a Valentine, and if she did, what it should say. She also wondered if she should give Willy some sort of Valentine gift. She definitely wanted to. The trouble was that she had no idea what to get him! Considering he was the owner of a chocolate factory, chocolate probably wouldn't be very meaningful to him (since he had it all the time!). Flowers were a nice traditional Valentine's Day gift...but not usually for a guy. Finally, just as she finished her bath, Ronnie came up with a gift idea, as well as what to write on the Valentine.

After finishing her bath, Ronnie spent the rest of the day making her Valentine and Valentine's gift for Willy. When it was finally time for bed, she wondered how on Earth she was going to sleep that night. She couldn't wait until the next morning!

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**A/n: **I'll bet you're curious about just what Ronnie decided to give Willy for Valentine's Day, and what she wrote on the Valentine. Well, you'll just have to wait and see. :)

**Chapter 10 Preview: **The big day arrives!


	11. Chapter 10: The Big Day Arrives

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **Thank you to the two people who reviewed the last chapter. Like I always say, I LOVE reviews, so please keep them coming! Oh, and flames will be thrown...you know the rest. :)

* * *

Willy sighed in exasperation. It was 3:00 Valentine's Day morning and he was wide-awake. He was so nervous about the completion of Ronnie's tour of the factory that he hadn't been able to sleep very well. This was about the millionth time he'd woken up that night! "I may as well give up on getting any more sleep tonight!" he groaned as he got out of bed and put on his slippers. Then he headed to the elevator and went down to the Chocolate Room.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, Willy immediately began pacing. He couldn't believe how nervous he was...and over a girl, to boot! He was friends with Mrs. Bucket, Charlie's two grandmothers, and the female Oompa Loompas, but he had never felt this way about them, or any woman, for that matter. "For hornswagglers' sake, what is going on?" he exclaimed.

Before he even had a chance to ponder that thought, he heard the sound of a door opening, and nearly jumped out of his skin! Who was sneaking around the factory at this hour? "Willy, are you all right?" a sleepy-sounding voice suddenly asked. He turned around...and saw Mrs. Bucket standing in front of him. She was in her nightgown and looked very tired. Willy turned beet red. Obviously he'd woken her up with his little outburst. "Sorry 'bout that," he apologized.

"That's all right, Willy. What are you doing up, though? It's three in the morning!" Mrs. Bucket said. "I know. I just can't sleep. I'm so nervous about Ronnie's visit tom..err, today," Willy explained. "I'm sure everything will go fine," Mrs. Bucket said soothingly. "What if she doesn't come, though? And what if she doesn't like what I've got planned?" Willy asked. "Willy, I'm sure she'll come. She seemed to really like the factory last time, after all. I'm sure she'll like whatever you've got planned, too," Mrs. Bucket said.

"Well, I hope she does!" Willy said. Mrs. Bucket certainly didn't have any doubt that Ronnie would enjoy herself (and show up), given the way she had been looking at Willy at dinner during her first visit to the factory. She didn't know how to say that to Willy without embarrassing the heck out of him, though. So she settled for saying, "Trust me, Willy, I'm sure she'll come and I'm sure she'll enjoy herself!" "'kay," Willy said. "Now, why don't you go back to bed and try to get a few more hours of sleep?" Mrs. Bucket suggested gently. "'kay," Willy said again as he headed for the glass elevator.

____________

Miraculously, Willy did manage to get back to sleep. All too soon, however, he woke up again. This time, at least, it was 8:00, so it was actually time to get up! Then, suddenly, he realized just what the time meant. "Ronnie's going to be here in two hours!" he exclaimed. He about broke a speed record showering, getting dressed, and getting to the Buckets' cottage for breakfast.

"Good morning, Willy!" the Buckets greeted the chocolatier when he arrived at their cottage. "Good morning," Willy replied as he sat down at the table. "Mom made French toast this morning!" Charlie exclaimed happily. Willy just nodded and began hurriedly shoveling his breakfast into his mouth. "Willy, slow down! You're going to make yourself choke or throw up if you keep eating that fast!" Mrs. Bucket chided him. "But Ronnie's going to be here in just two hours!" exclaimed Willy.

"I know, Willy, but I don't think it's going to take you two hours to eat breakfast," Mrs. Bucket said gently. "But I have to make sure everything is ready, and I need to do my daily morning check-in with the Oompa Loompas, and..." Willy insisted. "Willy! Calm down! I'm sure everything will work out!" Mrs. Bucket reassured the chocolatier. "I can do the check-in with the Oompa Loompas for you, Willy," Charlie spoke up. "Thank you! That would be a big help!" Willy said gratefully.

After Charlie and Willy finished discussing the details of when and where Charlie should do the check-in with the Oompa-Loompas, Willy went back to his breakfast. He ate a little slower than he had before...but not much. Mrs. Bucket sighed and shook her head. "So, what are you planning to do for the completion of Ronnie's tour?" Charlie asked. "I'm not telling! It's a secret!" said Willy. Mrs. Bucket had to stifle a giggle. "Well, are you going to give her anything for Valentine's Day?" she asked. Willy blushed. "That's personal!" he exclaimed.

This time, Mrs. Bucket had to pretend to cough into her arm in order to hide her giggles. It was obvious that the chocolatier had the hots for Ronnie, and she thought it was cute that he was being so shy about it. He reminded her of a teenager having his or her first crush (in fact, she knew it was very possible that Ronnie WAS the first woman Willy had ever been interested in)!

"Willy, would you like me to be with you for any of the tour?" Charlie asked. "Not really. I'd kinda like to be alone with her," said Willy. Mrs. Bucket had to resist the urge to tease him by asking him just why he wanted to be alone with Ronnie. Instead she said, "Do you have anything planned for dinner? If not, you and Ronnie are more than welcome to eat with us." "I do have something planned, but thanks anyway," said Willy. Then he looked at the clock...and realized it was nearly ten minutes to 10:00. "I've got to get ready to meet Ronnie!" he exclaimed.

________________

After leaving the Buckets' cottage, Willy hurried to the front gates of the factory. Once he got there, he pulled a small hand mirror out of his coat and studied his hair. Luckily, it looked fine. Then he looked down at his outfit, just to make sure he hadn't gotten maple syrup or pieces of French toast on it at breakfast. He was relieved to see that he hadn't. Next he looked down at his watch...and was dismayed to find out that only five minutes had gone by, and it was now five minutes to 10:00. "It should be 10:00 by now!" he exclaimed.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, 10:00 arrived. Taking a deep breath, Willy opened the doors and headed out to the factory gates (he had decided that this time, he was going to greet Ronnie in person rather than over the loudspeaker.). There stood Ronnie, holding both her purse and a canvas tote bag. Willy opened his mouth to speak...but no words came out. Luckily, Ronnie saved the day. "Good morning, Starshine!" she said. "The Earth says hello!" Willy finished.

"Thanks for inviting me back to the factory!" Ronnie said. "My pleasure! I was kind of bummed when you ran out last time," Willy replied. Ronnie blushed. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "So, ready to continue the tour?" Willy asked as he ushered Ronnie into the factory. "You bet I am!" she replied. "'Kay then, let's get a move on!" Willy said cheerfully. "Where to first?" Ronnie asked eagerly. "Well, I was thinking we could take a ride on the pink candy boat," said Willy. "I'd love that!" Ronnie exclaimed.

Luckily, the boat happened to be docked in the Chocolate Room right then, which was where Willy and Ronnie happened to be. So they headed down to the chocolate river. Willy climbed onto the boat and then, to his surprise, found himself offering his hand to Ronnie (after all, he normally hated to be touched!). Ronnie smiled and took it. Willy helped her into the boat and then instructed the Oompa Loompa rowers to start rowing.

As the boat went over the chocolate rapids, Ronnie laughed with delight. "What a cute laugh!" Willy mused. Ronnie smiled. "Do you really think so?" she asked. Willy's face turned crimson. "Did I really say that out loud?" he asked. "Yes, you did. I'm glad you like my laugh," said Ronnie. Just as Willy was trying to figure out what to say, they came to a door. "Strawberry Flavored, Chocolate Coated Fudge? That must taste incredible!" Ronnie exclaimed. "Would you like to try some?" Willy asked, at the same time motioning the rowers to stop rowing. "Would I? I'd love to!" Ronnie said happily. "Then come on!" Willy said eagerly as he opened the door.

* * *

**Chapter 11 Preview: **Ronnie gets her first taste of Strawberry Flavored, Chocolate Coated fudge, and she and Willy find themselves in an interesting situation in the Glass Elevator!


	12. Chapter 11: Elevator Adventure

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **Well, here's my Valentine's Day gift to you....the next chapter of **Confusion**! As always, I love reviews (and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!), so please keep 'em coming! Flames, as always, will simply be thrown in the Chocolate River!

* * *

The sight that met Ronnie's eyes nearly took her breath away. The room that she and Willy had just entered was full of bushes containing the most gorgeous, delicious looking strawberries she had ever seen. In the center of the room was a huge mountain that appeared to be made of chocolate. "That's incredible!" Ronnie exclaimed, indicating the mountain. "It's Fudge Mountain, where we get all the fudge for Strawberry Flavored, Chocolate-Coated Fudge!" Willy said proudly.

"May I try a strawberry?" Ronnie asked, still in awe of the utterly amazing and beautiful room. "Of course you can! Everything in this room is eatable, just like in the Chocolate Room!" Willy responded. Ronnie happily reached out, grabbed a strawberry off the nearest bush, and took a big bite. The strawberry was like none she'd ever tasted before. It was the juiciest, sweetest, and all around-tastiest strawberry she had ever tasted! "Do you like it?" Willy asked eagerly. "I love it!" Ronnie exclaimed.

The chocolatier giggled with delight. "Did you know that this type of strawberry is unique to my factory?" he asked. "I thought so. I knew a strawberry this delicious could only come from this factory," Ronnie replied. "Thank you!" said Willy. "Strawberries are the one thing I love almost as much as I love chocolate," remarked Ronnie. "That's interesting, because I love strawberries almost as much as I love chocolate, too!" said Willy.

"Is there anything you love more than chocolate?" Ronnie suddenly found herself asking. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to kick herself. "What a silly thing to ask!" she thought After all, the man was the owner of the world's largest chocolate factory. Of course he loved chocolate more than anything in the world! To her great surprise, however, Willy did not immediately retort "Of course not!" or "What kind of question is that?" In fact, for some reason that Ronnie could not figure out, the chocolatier suddenly appeared very shy, and his cheeks had taken on a pinkish tinge.

"Well....I....uh....er.....you see....." Willy stammered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that," Ronnie apologized. "It's 'kay. I just....um....it's just that.....what I mean is.....you're really weird!" Willy finally managed to say. "You know, I'd love some to try some Strawberry Flavored, Chocolate-Coated Fudge," Ronnie said, sensing that Willy was very eager to change the subject.

"Of course you do! Follow me," Willy said happily. Ronnie followed Willy to an area of the room that resembled the Inventing room a bit, with a few machines and other candy making equipment. Willy reached over to a large tray and grabbed something off of it. Ronnie eagerly accepted the candy and took a bite. It tasted so good, she thought she'd pass out just from the sheer joy of it! "This...this is incredible! It's the best fudge I've ever tasted!" she exclaimed.

"Thank you! Go ahead, have some more!" said Willy. Ronnie didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed another piece of fudge off the tray and ate it happily. Then she ate a third piece, and was just about to reach for a fourth when she remembered that it was close to lunchtime. She figured she and Willy would probably be eating lunch with the Buckets (since they had eaten supper with them on Ronnie's first visit to the factory), so she didn't want to spoil her appetite. "Why did you stop eating the fudge? You can have as much of it as you want!" Willy said. "Well, I probably shouldn't spoil my appetite for lunch. We're eating with the Buckets, right?" Ronnie replied.

Willy suddenly looked shy again. "Actually, I had something else in mind," he said. "And what would that be?" Ronnie asked. "We're going to have a picnic in my favorite room in the entire factory," Willy responded. "You mean, just the two of us?" Ronnie asked. "Well, yeah," said Willy. Ronnie smiled. "I'd love that!" she said. Willy grinned back. "In that case, to the elevator!" he said.

Ronnie blushed, remembering what had happened the last time she and Willy had been in the elevator together. "Hopefully this time I'll...." Ronnie's thoughts were interrupted when both she and Willy ran head-long into the glass elevator. "You really..." Ronnie began. "Need to be more careful where I park this thing!" Willy finished. They both laughed as they picked themselves up off the floor and stepped into the elevator.

Willy pressed a button, and the elevator took off (vertically, to Ronnie's relief. She was glad she at least had time to prepare for any horizontal movement by the elevator this time!). "I'm really glad you came back to my factory," Willy said. "Well, I'm glad you invited me back," Ronnie replied. "My pleasure!" said Willy. Much to Ronnie's mortification, her stomach picked that moment to let out a very loud growl. Her face turned the color of a firetruck. "Sorry," she said meekly.

"No need to apologize. It's lunchtime, of course your tummy is going to be hungry!" Willy assured her. Ronnie smiled gratefully. "Thanks. What are we having for lunch, anyway?" she said. Willy giggled and clapped his hands together. "I'm not telling, it's a secret! I think you're going to love it, though!" he said happily. "Well, I..." Ronnie's sentence was interrupted by a loud squeaking noise, which was followed by the elevator coming to an abrupt stop. The sudden movement (or rather stoppage of movement) caused Ronnie to lose her balance. She fell forward, bumping into Willy, which caused him to lose HIS balance. This, in turn, caused Willy to topple backward onto the floor of the elevator, and Ronnie to land on top of him.

Needless to say, neither Willy nor Ronnie knew quite what to say about the rather awkward situation at first. Willy absently reached out and started stroking Ronnie's hair. "That feels good!" Ronnie said, finally breaking the silence. Willy looked puzzled. "What does?" he asked. "You stroking my hair," Ronnie responded. "Oh! I didn't realize I was doing it," Willy said sheepishly as he pulled his hand away. Then, suddenly, he found himself asking Ronnie, "Did anyone ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes?"

Of all the things Willy could have possibly asked her right then, she had definitely NOT expected him to ask that! She was very flattered by the compliment and, for what seemed about the ten millionth time that day, she felt her cheeks turning red. "Thanks, and actually, no. No one has ever told me I have pretty eyes before. Well, of course my mother always told me I was beautiful when I was a kid, but I think all parents think that about their kids," she replied. To her surprise, Willy suddenly looked sad. "I don't think my f-f-f-f....well, you know, HIM, I don't think he ever thought anything like that about me. He never complimented me on anything. All he ever saw were the ways I messed things up," he said softly. Hearing Willy say those things suddenly made Ronnie remember something....

_Ronnie and her mother were sitting in the waiting room at Dr. Wonka's house/office. It was time for her six-month dental check-up, which she was NOT thrilled about, to say the very least. Not only did she, like many kids, simply dislike going to the dentist in general, but Dr. Wonka was constantly lecturing her about eating too much candy. He made no secret of the fact that he hated candy, and didn't think it was acceptable for anyone to eat it._

"_At least he's not my father!" she reminded herself. She couldn't even imagine what it must be like for Willy, having to live with Dr. Wonka day in and day out! As she sat there thinking about that, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten to brush her teeth before she and her mother left for Dr. Wonka's. She knew from past experience that Dr. Wonka, like many dentists, kept a supply of toothbrushes and toothpaste in the bathroom for situations like hers. So, she got up and headed to the bathroom (after letting her mother know what she was doing first, of course!)_

_Once in the bathroom, Ronnie grabbed a toothbrush and started vigorously brushing her teeth. As she was finishing up, she heard footsteps in the hallway, along with what sounded like someone crying. She stopped in her tracks, not sure whether she should go out in the hallway or wait for whomever was out there to leave. While she was pondering that, she heard a sad-sounding voice say: "Why is dad so against candy? Has he ever even tried it himself?"_

_Ronnie recognized that voice instantly. It was Willy's. She didn't want to intrude on him, but Dr. Wonka wouldn't be happy with her if she ended up being late to her appointment (especially since she was already in his office and thus had no excuse for being late!). Not to mention the fact that it was very possible that Willy was waiting to get into the bathroom. So, she opened the door and stepped into the hallway. When Willy caught site of her, he ran into the bathroom, looking embarrassed and ashamed. As he ran past her, Ronnie could see that his face was tear-stained. She also thought she noticed a redness on his left arm, as if it had been recently slapped or gripped hard._

_Ronnie felt awful for Willy. She couldn't understand how Dr. Wonka could hurt his own son that way. She sighed and started to head back to the waiting room. She hadn't taken more than two steps when she heard what sounded like paper crinkling under her feet. She bent down to check, and found a piece of paper that Willy had apparently dropped. On it, he had drawn a picture of what looked like a factory, and written: "Someday, this will be my chocolate factory". The writing went on to list what Ronnie assumed were ideas for new candies. Ronnie picked up a pencil that she noticed laying on the hall table and wrote on the paper: "Go for it, Willy! I believe in you, and I know you'll be a great chocolatier some day!"_

_The next morning, Ronnie ran into the classroom the second the bus arrived at school (ordinarily, she, like the other kids, went to morning recess, as the school called it, until the bell rang to signal the start of the school day). She went over to Willy's desk and slipped the paper and a chocolate candy she'd found at home into it....._

"Er, Ronnie? Are you there?" Willy suddenly asked, startling Ronnie out of her flashback. "Yes. Sorry about that," she apologized. "Were you having a flashback?" Willy asked. "Yes, I was," Ronnie responded. Then, thinking about what she had remembered in that flashback, she instinctively reached over (by this time she and Willy had sorted themselves out and were sitting side-by-side, rather than her laying on top of him!) and gave the chocolatier a hug. Willy was understandably surprised by the gesture at first, but he quickly relaxed and returned the hug. Then, just as he was about to thank Ronnie for the hug, he heard the unmistakable sound of giggling coming from below the elevator.

Willy looked downward, and saw the Oompa Loompas in the room below looking up at the elevator. They were gesturing to each other and giggling. "Those little sneaks! I'll bet they're behind the elevator malfunction!" he thought. By this time, Ronnie had noticed the Oompa Loompas as well. "I guess they find us quite amusing!" she said with a laugh. "I think those little mischief makers made the elevator stop on purpose!" Willy replied. Then he pressed a button in the elevator marked "Maintenance". There was a beep, and then a voice said, "Mr. Wonka?" "Yeah, I know what you guys did. Now please, start the elevator back up," Willy said. The response was a giggle, followed by a voice saying, "All right, all right!"

"Was that an Oompa Loompa?" Ronnie asked. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to kick herself. The voice wasn't Charlie's or one of the other Buckets', and the Oompa Loompas were the only other people other than the Buckets and Willy who lived in the factory. So obviously it had been an Oompa Loompa on the intercom!

Luckily, Willy did not seem to mind the question or think it was silly. "It sure was!" he responded. "I was under the impression that they couldn't speak English," Ronnie remarked. "Well, most of them can't. A few of them, such as the maintenance Oompa Loompas, have learned it for when situations like this come up, though," Willy explained. That made sense to Ronnie. After all, Loompish was a language made up mostly of gestures rather than words, so obviously it was impossible to be able to hear it over an intercom!

"Good idea for them to...." Ronnie started to say as the elevator came to a stop once again. This time, since it had stopped at it's intended destination, the doors opened, and the sight that met Ronnie's eyes made her stop in mid-sentence. She was looking out at what appeared to be an island made up entirely of various candies! Willy noticed her awe-struck expression and smiled. "Welcome to Dessert Island!" he said proudly.

* * *

**Chapter 12 Preview: **Willy and Ronnie have a picnic on Dessert Island, Ronnie learns why Dessert Island is a very special place for Willy, and Willy gives Ronnie a very special Valentine's Day gift!


	13. Chapter 12: Dessert Island

Disclaimer:

I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **A big thank-you to the people who reviewed the last chapter. As always, I LOVE reviews, so please keep them coming! And you know what I'll do with flames! Well, on to the next chapter of Confusion!

* * *

Ronnie had thought that the Fudge room was amazing...but it was nothing compared to Dessert Island! The island, which was quite large, had candy grass, a cottage made out of various candies, and a beach made out of what Ronnie assumed was graham crackers or something similar. In addition, the water surrounding the island was the clearest water Ronnie had ever seen! "This my favorite part of the factory so far!" she exclaimed.

Willy smiled. "It makes me very happy to hear that, 'cause this room is very special to me," he said. "I'll bet it is! Who wouldn't love a room like this?" Ronnie replied. "Thank you! I built it right after I closed my factory because of the spies. I just couldn't go into any of the other rooms in the factory without thinking about how those despicable spies stole my recipes. So I built this room as a place I could come to when I was feeling really down. Now I go here when I want to take a vacation," Willy explained. "I'd love to vacation here!" Ronnie blurted out without thinking. Then she realized just what she was implying and clapped her hand over her mouth. "I...I mean, you know, if I lived in the factory," she said, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"It would be wonderful to vacation here, just the two of us," thought Willy. "What did you just say?" Ronnie asked, sounding curious. Willy was mortified as he realized that he must have inadvertently spoken his thought out loud. "Er, nothing!" he replied. Then he quickly changed the subject. "By the way, you are the first person I've brought to this room. Not even the Oompa Loompas or Charlie's family have been in here," he said. Ronnie grinned. "I'm very honored!" she said. Willy grinned back. "I like hearing that," he said. Then he remembered what time it was. "Well, are you ready for lunch?" he asked. In response, Ronnie's stomach let out a loud rumble. "I guess that means yes!" Willy said. Ronnie giggled sheepishly. "Yes, it does," she said. "In that case, I'll let the Oompa Loompas know we're ready for our food," Willy said.

Needless to say, since Willy wasn't carrying any sort of pager or cell phone, Ronnie was a bit confused as to just how he planned to contact the Oompa Loompas! Before she could actually ask Willy about that, though, the chocolatier walked over to the elevator doors. For the first time, Ronnie noticed that, on the left hand side of the elevator doors, there was a set of much smaller glass doors. And beside them was a medium-sized button, which Willy pressed. Seconds later, the button flashed green. Willy clapped his hands. "Oh, good! The Oompa Loompas have seen the signal, and will be sending our food up very soon!" he exclaimed happily.

A few minutes later, the button flashed twice. That was quickly followed by the arrival of a much smaller version of the glass elevator, which was carrying three covered food dishes, along with a picnic blanket, silverware, plates, bowls, napkins, glasses, and a large thermos. "The Great Glass Dumbwaiter, I take it," said Ronnie. Willy grinned. "Indeed it is!" he said proudly. Then he reached into the Dumbwaiter and pulled out the picnic blanket. "Would you like to have our picnic on the grass, or on the beach?" he asked. "Definitely the beach!" Ronnie said. Willy grinned even bigger. "The beach it is, then!" he said.

"What kind of candy is this beach made out of?" Ronnie asked as she helped Willy spread out the picnic blanket on the beach. "Eatable sand, of course! It's just like regular sand, only it's eatable...and it tastes a lot better, too!" Willy replied. Ronnie laughed. "Yeah, regular sand doesn't taste too good!" she agreed. "Do you like building sandcastles?" Willy asked, sounding almost shy. "Like to? I love to!" Ronnie answered. "Well, then, maybe we can build some later," suggested Willy. Ronnie smiled. "I'd like that," she said. Then they remembered that the food was still in the dumbwaiter, and possibly starting to get cold, so they hurried over and got it.

"Are you ready to see what we're eating?" Willy asked teasingly. Ronnie playfully bopped him on the shoulder. "Of course I am!" she said. "Okay, then!" Willy said eagerly. Then he proceeded to remove the cover from the first dish of food, revealing a pot of spaghetti. Ronnie gasped with delight. "How did you know I love spaghetti?" she asked. "You do? I was hoping you did!" Willy replied. Ronnie smiled. "It's one of my favorite foods," she said. Willy smiled back. "It's one of mine, too," he said. Then he uncovered the other two food dishes, which turned out to be garlic bread and a mixture of red vegetables.

Ronnie reached for a plate so she could dish herself up, but Willy stopped her. "Since you're my da...er, I mean my guest, I'd like to serve you," he said. Ronnie felt her heart leap inside her chest. "Did I hear that correctly? Did he really almost call me his date?" she wondered to herself. Then she reminded herself that Willy had just made a very generous offer, and was waiting for her to respond. "Ronnie, where are your manners?" she silently scolded herself. "Thank you. I'm honored that you offered," she said to Willy. "My pleasure," Willy said as he handed her the plate he'd just dished up for her.

Once Willy had dished up his plate, Ronnie eagerly began eating her spaghetti. "Well, what do you think?" Willy asked. "This is the best spaghetti I've ever eaten!" Ronnie exclaimed happily. The chocolatier grinned. "I'm glad you like it. It's my own secret recipe," he said. "Well, you did an excellent job!" Ronnie said. "Thank you," Willy replied. Then he reached for the thermos and poured himself a glass of some sort of red juice. "My latest invention, Wonka's Special Valentine's Punch. Would you like to try some?" he asked Ronnie. "Definitely," Ronnie responded. "'Kay then," said Willy as he poured her a glass.

Ronnie immediately picked the glass up and took a sip. The taste was unlike that of any juice Ronnie had tried before. In fact, she realized with a shock that the word she'd use to describe the taste would be "love". How something could actually taste like love, Ronnie didn't know, but that juice definitely did! "This is delicious!" she said to Willy. "It's supposed to taste like l..l...like l..." Willy stammered, looking shy once again. "Love?" Ronnie supplied. "Yeah, that," Willy said. Ronnie smiled. "It does taste like love," she said. "You're the first non-Oompa Loompa, besides me, to try this juice," Willy said, sounding eager to change the subject a bit. "Well, it definitely has my full approval," Ronnie replied.

"So, what do you do for work?" Willy asked suddenly, surprising himself as well as Ronnie. Needless to say, Ronnie hadn't quite been expecting that question! "What makes you ask that?" she asked. "Well, we were just talking about what I do for work, what with the Valentine Punch and all, so that made me curious about what your job is," said Willy. Ronnie hesitated for a moment. She still didn't feel right telling Willy that she worked for Slugworth. Finally, she settled for saying, "Actually, I work with candy, too." "You don't by any chance work for one of those copy-cat candy-making cads, do you?" Willy asked. Ronnie took a deep breath. She knew there was no way she could look at Willy and lie to him. She had to tell him the truth.

"I work for Slugworth. But I wish I didn't, and I assure you-" Ronnie began, but Willy held up his hand to stop her. Then, to Ronnie's absolute shock, Willy said, "Don't worry, I don't think you're one of those despicable spies. You've never acted even a tiny bit like they did." Ronnie smiled. "I'd never agree to be a spy for that despicable excuse for a candy maker!" she said. Willy laughed. "Sounds like you have the same opinion of him that I do!" he said. "I can't stand him! He's a horrible boss, and his candy is terrible! I'm embarrassed to be part of making that awful stuff!" Ronnie replied. Then she surprised herself by saying something that she had never told anyone before. "I wish Slugworth would allow his employees to help him come up with candy ideas," she said.

That made Willy smile. "You like inventing candy, too?" he said. "I love it! I also like just plain making it," Ronnie replied. "What are some candy ideas you've come up with?" Willy inquired. "Well, just a few days ago I thought of candy earrings, earrings made out of candy," said Ronnie. Without really thinking about what he was doing, Willy reached over and gently took one of Ronnie's earrings, which looked like strawberries dipped in chocolate, in his hand. Being careful not to pull on it, he slowly rotated it and examined it. "That's a fantabulous idea!" he exclaimed. "You really think so?" said Ronnie. "I know so. After all, the earrings you're wearing already LOOK like chocolate-dipped strawberries. So why not make them TASTE like them and be eatable as well?" Willy answered.

Ronnie grinned. "My thoughts exactly!" she said. "I'll bet people would be buying them like crazy!" Willy replied. Ronnie nodded, then said, "You know, I like making candy, and I like to cook a bit, too, but most of all, I love to bake." Then, before Willy could say anything, Ronnie reached into the tote bag she had been carrying with her all morning, and pulled out a box. "Speaking of which, Happy Valentine's Day!" she said. Willy opened the box. "It's a pie! I may not make pie in my factory, but it's one of my favorites!" he cried happily. Ronnie grinned an even bigger grin. "And not just any pie! It's Whipplescrumptious Fudgemallow Delight Pie! I got the idea from your Whipplescrumptious Fudgemallow Delight bars, my favorite of your candy bars," she said excitedly.

Willy eagerly grabbed a knife (luckily, he and Ronnie hadn't cleaned up from lunch yet!) and began cutting the pie. He cut two pieces, and put each on a plate. After handing one of the plates to Ronnie, he picked up a fork and took a bite of his slice of pie. "Well, how is it?" Ronnie asked. "It's the most incredible, delicious pie I've ever tasted!" Willy declared. "Really?" Ronnie asked. "Really and truly! It tastes like the best chocolate you can imagine," Willy said. "I'm glad you like it so much," Ronnie said. Willy grinned once again and said, "It also tastes like it was made with a lot of love." Then, when he realized what he'd said, he turned the color of a tomato. He had NOT meant to speak that thought out loud!

"Well, I consider making candy and baked goods to be a labor of love, so it was made with a lot of love," Ronnie responded. "I think it's very important to make candy with a lot of love. 'Cuz if the love isn't there, then it doesn't taste good at all," Willy said. "I agree whole-heartedly," said Ronnie. "Remember when you asked me earlier today if there's anything I love more than candy?" Willy suddenly found himself asking. "Yes. Why?" inquired Ronnie. "Well, I USED to love candy more than anything in the world, but now, well...I...I...you see..." the chocolatier stammered. "Now there is something you love more than candy?" Ronnie asked, trying to help him out. "Not someTHING, but...well...what I'm trying to say is...I l...I l...I love...," Willy couldn't finish his sentence. Instead, before he knew quite what he was doing, he leaned over and pressed his lips to Ronnie's.

Now, Ronnie had known that Willy liked her, and she had even wondered if he liked her in THAT way (not to mention the fact that she had hoped that he did!). She was no idiot! However, needless to say, she hadn't quite been expecting him to kiss her! So, for a few brief seconds (which, to Ronnie, seemed like several very long minutes), she sat there in surprise, not really knowing what to think, say, or do. Then she relaxed and found herself returning the kiss.

After the kiss ended (which was way too soon for both Willy's and Ronnie's tastes!), Willy and Ronnie looked at each other, not knowing quite what to say. It was Ronnie who spoke first. "This is turning out to be the best Valentine's Day ever!" she said. Willy grinned. "I agree," he said. Then he asked, "What would you like to do next?" Ronnie didn't hesitate. "Build sandcastles!" she replied. "I was hoping you'd say that!" said Willy.

Then Ronnie and Willy remembered that they still hadn't cleaned up from lunch yet. So they gathered up the dishes and picnic blanket and sent them back to the Oompa Loompas via the dumbwaiter. Once that was done, Willy retrieved the sandcastle building stuff from the candy cottage and the two happily began to build. They were soon having so much fun building that they completely lost track of time. When Ronnie did finally think to look at her watch, she was surprised to find that it was nearly five o'clock. "Willy, it's almost five," she informed the chocolatier. Willy looked as disappointed as she felt. They both knew that their special Valentine's day together was almost over. "Can you at least stay for supper?" Willy asked. "I'd love to!" said Ronnie, eager to stretch the day out as much as possible. Willy grinned. "Good! I suppose we should probably check in with the Buckets, and see if they'd like us to eat with them," he said.

When they arrived back in the Chocolate Room, they were extremely surprised to find Mrs. Bucket and Charlie waiting for them near the elevator. They were even more surprised to see that both of them appeared quite worried about something. Naturally, Willy's first thought was that there had been sort of accident in the factory, like a machine malfunctioning or one of the Oompa Loompa testers developing a nasty side-effect after trying one of the new candies. "Charlie, what happened? Are the Oompa Loompas all right?" he asked. "The Oompa Loompas are fine, Willy. It's nothing having to do with the factory," Charlie assured his mentor. "Then what is it?" Willy asked.

"I'm afraid there's quite a blizzard going on outside. We were watching the news just now, and they have advised everyone to stay indoors until it passes," said Mrs. Bucket. Willy knew immediately what that meant: Ronnie wasn't going to be able to get home that night. Trying hard not to sound or look too eager (the last thing he wanted was for Mrs. Bucket and Charlie teasing him or asking any embarrassing questions!), he said, "Well, then, Ronnie will just have to spend the night here!"

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**Chapter 13 Preview: **Ronnie spends the night at the factory, which leds to a few interesting and embarassing moments!


	14. Chapter 13: A Most Interesting Dinner

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **Thank you to the people who reviewed the last chapter. As you know, I love reviews, and they motivate me to write more. So please review (and flames, of course, will be going right in the chocolate river!)!

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Ronnie could hardly contain her excitement. She had been feeling really down about the fact that she and Willy's special day together was about to come to a close...and now it wasn't going to! At least not that night She wanted to jump up and down and cheer, but she knew that would cause Mrs. Bucket and Charlie to get suspicious and ask questions (after all, most people don't go around cheering when there's a blizzard, or, for that matter, when they find themselves stranded somewhere because of one!). So she settled for saying, "I've always wondered what it would be like to spend the night in a chocolate factory." Willy grinned. "Well, now you don't have to wonder anymore," he said.

Not long after having been told about the blizzard, Ronnie and Willy were sitting down to supper with the Buckets. "This meatloaf is terrific!" Willy exclaimed. "I'll say! You're a great cook, Mrs. Bucket," Ronnie added. "Thanks, but I'm not the one that made the meatloaf," Mrs. Bucket replied. "Then who did make the meatloaf?" Ronnie inquired. "Grandma Josephine did," said Mrs. Bucket. "The grandparents have always tried to give us the day off in some way or another on Valentine's Day," Mr. Bucket added. "It's always been important to them that James and I be able to have the chance to spend time alone together on Valentine's Day," explained Mrs. Bucket.

Mr. Bucket smiled and put his arm around his wife's shoulders. "Usually we just went for a walk, since we couldn't afford anything else, but that didn't matter to us. The most important thing was that we were spending time together, just the two of us," he said. Mrs. Bucket gazed lovingly at her husband. "I looked forward to those walks all year," she said. Mr. Bucket returned the gaze. "Me, too," he said. In response, Mrs. Bucket leaned over and gave her husband a big kiss. Mr. Bucket was all too happy to return it.

Charlie, on the other hand, was completely grossed out. "Mom, dad, no kissing at the dinner table!" he protested. Mr. and Mrs. Bucket (who, fortunately, had been almost finished with their kiss when Charlie had interrupted it!) had to stifle the urge to burst out laughing. Then Mrs. Bucket realized that Willy had not seemed at all bothered by the kiss. Ordinarily, he would have been just as grossed out as Charlie was. Mrs. Bucket had a strong hunch as to what was behind the change in Willy's attitude toward kissing, but she wasn't going to embarrass him by asking. She WAS curious as to how Willy and Ronnie's day had gone, though.

Mr. Bucket must have read her mind, because he suddenly asked, "So Willy, Ronnie, how was your day?" "It was fantastic! Willy and I had a wonderful time," Ronnie said happily. "That's good to hear," said Mrs. Bucket. "So, what did you two do all day?" Charlie asked. "That's personal!" Willy and Ronnie exclaimed in unison.

Charlie felt a little guilty. He hadn't meant to make them uncomfortable. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "It's okay, Charlie," Ronnie assured him. Then Willy, who hated to see Charlie feeling bad asked, "How did things go in the factory today, Charlie?" (naturally, since Willy had been with Ronnie, Charlie had overseen the running of the factory that day). Charlie brightened. "They went great," he said. "I'm very glad to hear that," Willy said.

By this time, everyone had finished their supper, and Ronnie and Willy were helping the Buckets clean up the kitchen. Ronnie was helping Mrs. Bucket wash the dishes when something suddenly occurred to her. Where was she supposed to sleep? After all, this was a chocolate factory, not a motel! The Buckets' house was almost too small for them, let alone an extra person, and Ronnie was pretty sure that, while Willy must have had living quarters for himself, they probably didn't include a guest room. So Ronnie had no idea where Willy was planning to have her sleep.

"Where am I going to sleep?" she asked. "Well, I know you really like strawberries, so I figured you could sleep in the Strawberry Bedroom," Willy replied. "The Strawberry Bedroom?" Ronnie asked, a bit confused. "Yeah. Before all that nasty business with the spies, when I still had human workers, I always had a lot of student interns from other countries every summer. Naturally they also needed a place to live while they worked here, so I added some bedrooms to the factory and gave them room and board, along with their pay of course, in exchange for working for me," Willy explained.

"And you decided to give each of those rooms a special candy-related theme," Ronnie finished for him. Willy grinned. "I sure did!" Then Ronnie remembered that she didn't have pajamas or toiletries with her, either (after all, when she had come to the factory that morning, she hadn't expected to spend the night there!). She wasn't too concerned about toiletries, since she figured that Willy probably had some extras that she could borrow. However, she was pretty sure that Willy didn't have any womens pajamas lying around his factory! Luckily, Mrs. Bucket seemed to have read her mind, because just then she said, "I know I have an extra nightgown somewhere. I'd be more than happy to lend it to you for the night, Ronnie."

"Thank you, Mrs. Bucket. I really appreciate it," Ronnie said. "Well, is everyone ready for some dessert?" Mr. Bucket spoke up suddenly. Grandma Josephine looked at him in surprise. "You insisted that I not make dessert tonight," she said. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we don't have dessert," said Mr. Bucket. Then, looking around at everyone's bewildered expressions, he quickly added, "I took care of dessert. I just have to go get it." With that, he got up and began rummaging around in the freezer. Then, before anyone could say anything more about the dessert, Grandpa Joe spoke up. "I need to go get something from the other room," he said. Now Grandma Josephine looked at HIM in surprise. "Joe, the only other rooms on this level are the bathroom and James and Nora's bedroom. I really don't think you'd have a reason to leave anything in either of those rooms," she said.

"I meant I left something outside," Grandpa Joe corrected himself. Then he quickly got up and headed outside. "Actually, I need to go get something, too," said Grandpa George. He didn't even give anybody a chance to ask questions. He just got up and left. Then, to everyone's surprise, Willy announced that HE had to go get something. After Willy had left, the Bucket women, Ronnie and Charlie looked at each other in confusion (well, Grandma Georgina didn't look confused. In fact, she smiled and said that she thought flowers smelled wonderful.). "What do you suppose the guys are up to?" Ronnie asked. "Your guess is as good as mine," replied Mrs. Bucket.

At that moment Grandpa Joe, Grandpa George, and Willy all returned. "Should I go first?" Grandpa George asked (this, of course, confused the women and Charlie even more. All they could figure out was that the men must have talked on their way to getting whatever they were getting, and told each other what they were doing). Grandpa Joe and Willy nodded, so Grandpa George stepped forward and handed something to Grandma Georgina. Grandma Georgina broke out into a huge grin and held up the thing Grandpa George had given her. It was a candle. "It smells like wild flowers! I like wild flowers!" she said. "Sounds like you like your Valentine's gift, Gigi," Grandpa George said happily. In response, Grandma Georgina leaned over and gave a him a hug and kiss.

Before Charlie even had time to be grossed out, Grandpa Joe stepped over to Grandma Josephine. "Happy Valentines Day, Josie," he said as he handed her a bouquet of flowers. "Thank you, Joe. You're always so thoughtful!" Grandma Josephine exclaimed. Grandpa Joe's response, of course, was to kiss her. Just as Charlie was getting ready to protest, Willy walked over to Ronnie. He cleared his throat, sounding a bit nervous. "Ronnie, I...Well, I just wanted to say..." he began.

Then he brought his hand out from behind his back and revealed a second bouquet of flowers. He handed them to Ronnie. "Happy Valentine's Day!" he finished. Ronnie felt tears of happiness well up in her eyes. Before she could say anything, though, Willy spoke again. "These aren't just regular old ordinary flowers, either. They're Wonka's Special Candy Flowers!" he said proudly. To Ronnie's absolute mortification, her tears spilled onto her cheeks. She quickly looked down at her flowers, hoping the Buckets hadn't noticed. "Thank you, Willy! This is the best Valentine's gift I've ever received!" she said.

Without really thinking about what he was doing, Willy suddenly started to lean forward, towards Ronnie's mouth. "Willy, what are you doing?" Charlie asked. Willy blushed crimson and hurriedly stood up straight. "I...er, I was just, uh..." he trailed off. Mrs. Bucket couldn't help but smile. She knew exactly what Willy had been about to do! "Dessert's ready! Who wants some?" Mr. Bucket called just then. "I do!" cried everyone else. Mr. Bucket served Mrs. Bucket first. "Happy Valentine's Day, Nora," he said as he placed a bowl in front of her. As Mrs. Bucket looked at it, her eyes began filling with tears. "Oh, James! I don't know what to say! 'Thank you' just doesn't seem to be enough!" she said. Then she tilted her bowl slightly, to show the others what was in it. It was a piece of chocolate ice cream cake, topped with a red carnation.

"It's Double Chocolate Fudge ice cream cake, which is my all-time favorite," she explained to her family, Willy and Ronnie. "Of course, we couldn't afford it before. My Nora craved it just as badly as Charlie craved Wonka bars. I always wished I could at least get her some for Valentine's Day, but ice cream cake is a lot more expensive than a Wonka bar, so I couldn't," added Mr. Bucket. "And James proposed to me on Valentine's Day...and gave me a red carnation as a gift," said Mrs. Bucket. Then she looked at her husband. "I love you so much, James!" she exclaimed. Mr. Bucket responded by leaning over and giving her a big, tender kiss.

By this point, Charlie had had more than his fill of, as he called it, "mushy stuff". "Have you guys forgotten that there's a kid at the table?" he asked disgustedly. It took all of the adults' will-power not to laugh. "Are we getting too mushy for you?" Mrs. Bucket teased. Before Charlie could reply, a loud musical sound suddenly filled the air. It seemed to be coming from near the door. "Did somebody turn on the radio or something?" Mr. Bucket asked (which was a pretty silly question since no one had left the table for the last five minutes...but Mr. Bucket didn't know what else the sound could be!). Ronnie looked sheepish. "No, it's my cellphone," she explained. Then she got up and hurried over to her purse (which she had left by the door, explaining why the sound was coming from there) and grabbed her phone out of it.

The Buckets and Willy waited patiently while Ronnie ducked outside to take the call (which turned out to be her mother, wishing her a happy Valentine's Day). A few minutes later, she returned. "Sorry about that. I thought I'd put my phone on silent mode," she apologized. "That's all right, Ronnie," Mrs. Bucket assured her. "Yeah, no biggie," Willy agreed. After checking to make sure that she really HAD put her phone on silent mode this time, Ronnie replaced it in her purse. Then, as she was getting ready to return to the table, Ronnie managed to embarrass herself even further. Her foot got caught in her purse's shoulder strap and she tripped, pulling the purse over onto its side in the process. Even worse, she had forgotten to zip the purse back up after putting the cell phone away, so most of the purse's contents spilled onto the floor.

"Are you all right, Ronnie?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "Yeah, I'm fine...but how embarrassing!" Ronnie answered as she got to her feet (inwardly vowing never ever again to buy a purse with such a long shoulder strap!). "It's 'kay, Ronnie. I've done some crazy things myself. Just ask Charlie!" Willy assured her.

Ronnie smiled gratefully at him. "Good to know I'm not the only one," she giggled. "Of course you're not! Now, would you like us to help you clean up?" Mrs. Bucket offered. "Sure. Thanks for offering," Ronnie said. With the Buckets' and Willy's help, Ronnie put her cellphone, her make-up bag, her wallet, her car keys, and a few other things back in her purse. Then, to her horror, she noticed that the name tag she had to wear for work had also fallen out. If the Buckets saw that... "Stop that! You've already told Willy you work for Slugworth. It's time you're honest about that with the Buckets, too," she scolded herself.

Ronnie took a deep breath and faced the Buckets. "You know how, on my first visit here, you asked me where I work? Well, I work for Slugworth," she said, holding up the name tag. "No wonder you didn't want to tell us the other night!" Mr. Bucket said. "Ronnie, I want to assure you that we don't think you're a spy because you work for Slugworth," Mrs. Bucket added. "'Course she's not!" Willy spoke up. Ronnie grinned at him. "As I told Willy, there's no way I'd ever agree to be a spy for that creep!" Mrs. Bucket laughed. "Why do I get the impression you're not too fond of Slugworth?" she teased. "Believe me, I regret taking that job. But I needed the money, and I wanted to work with candy," Ronnie replied.

Mrs. Bucket could sense that Ronnie didn't really want to keep talking about Slugworth, so she quickly changed the subject. "Would you like to me find that nightgown for you now?" she asked. "Sure," Ronnie responded. While Mrs. Bucket retrieved the nightgown, Ronnie looked at her watch and realized just how late it was. She wasn't all that tired, but she figured she and Willy should let the grandparents and Charlie get to bed. Willy seemed to be having the same thought. "I suppose we should get going. It's getting late, and Charlie, you need to be fresh for work tomorrow!" he said as Mrs. Bucket returned with the nightgown. "Awww, Willy!" Charlie groaned. "Willy's right, Charlie. It's getting late, and you need your sleep," Mrs. Bucket said firmly. "Oh, all right! Good night, everyone," Charlie said as he headed to his loft room. "Goodnight, Charlie," the Buckets, Willy and Ronnie replied.

"Goodnight, Willy and Ronnie. Naturally you're more than welcome to join us for breakfast tomorrow morning," said Mrs. Bucket. Then she handed the nightgown to Ronnie. "Thanks, Mrs. Bucket," Ronnie said. "And thanks for the breakfast invitation," Willy added. Then he and Ronnie said goodnight to the rest of the Buckets and headed for the glass elevator. "Ready to see your room?" Willy asked. Ronnie grinned. "I can't wait!" she exclaimed.

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**Chapter 14 Preview: **Willy and Ronnie take a walk after discovering they can't get to sleep...and poor Ronnie has a few more embarassing experiences!


	15. Chapter 14: Strawberries and Strolls

**Disclaimer: **I only own Mrs. Brooks and, with the exception of Terrance, Willy and Ronnie's classmates.

**A/n: **Here's my New Year's gift to you, the next chapter of Confusion! This chapter is also a bit longer than the previous ones, which I hope you'll enjoy. As always, please keep those reviews coming (flames, of course, will go straight into the chocolate river!)! They're what keep me writing!

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"Strawberry Bedroom, here we come!" Willy announced as he pressed a button in the elevator. Ronnie giggled. Obviously he, like her, was just a little over-excited! "I just hope the elevator behaves itself this time!" Ronnie commented. "The Oompa Loompas better behave themselves, too," said Willy. They both laughed. "They sure are mischievous!" said Ronnie. "Believe me, you don't want to see them on April Fool's Day!" Willy replied. Ronnie laughed even harder. "They like to pull pranks, I take it," she said. "I think it's their hobby," Willy remarked. "Do you ever get them back?" Ronnie asked. Willy grinned. "I have a couple of times. Once, I pushed all of the clocks, except for the Buckets', in the factory forward one hour, so they thought they were all late to work! They were falling all over themselves trying to apologize to me for showing up late to work!" he said.

By now Ronnie was laughing so hard she was afraid she'd fall over. Instinctively, her hand reached out to grab something to steady her. Since she was in the glass elevator, however, there really wasn't anything to grab onto. So, to Ronnie's extreme embarrassment, it was Willy that her hand grabbed! "Sorry about that!" she apologized as she took her hand away. "Don't worry about it," Willy assured her. "At least I didn't fall while I was grabbing you and pull you over with me!" Ronnie remarked. Both she and the chocolatier burst out laughing once again, remembering what had happened in the elevator earlier that day.

Not long after that, the elevator arrived at its destination. Ronnie and Willy stepped out into a hallway that Ronnie could only describe as delicious-looking! The wallpaper was decorated with just about every kind of candy and treat you could imagine. Several doors opened off the hallway, and each one had a picture of some type of candy or other sweet treat. They passed by a Wonka bar door, a lollipop door, a candy cane door, a licorice door, and even a gumdrop door. Then they walked by a candy corn door. "The Halloween Candy room," Ronnie guessed. Willy grinned. "You guessed it!" he said. Then his smile became a frown. "I wish I had been allowed to eat my trick-or-treat candy, like normal kids! Every year I thought that maybe this time my f-f-f-...well, you know, HIM, that he'd be reasonable and let me eat at least some of it. But no, he always had to go and burn it in the fireplace!" he burst out.

Ronnie felt horrible for Willy. She had known that his father hadn't allowed him to eat candy, because he'd said so at school. But she hadn't realized that Dr. Wonka had actually BURNED his son's candy! She also realized that not being allowed to eat candy had affected Willy even more than he'd originally let on. After, this was the first time she could remember seeing the chocolatier angry. "It must have made you so mad when we went trick-or-treating together and you knew the rest of us would be able to eat our candy," she said. Willy gave her a grateful look. "It DID make me mad. But what made me even madder was that I thought no one else even cared that I wasn't allowed to eat candy. So I felt I couldn't tell anyone how I felt," he said.

"And you also thought you'd just get teased if you did say how you felt," Ronnie finished. Willy smiled. "You cared, didn't you?" he replied. "I most certainly did! I thought it was horrible that your father wouldn't let you eat candy, and I wished there was something I could do about it," Ronnie said. "You always were different than the other kids at school. You never teased me, and you may have been shy like me, but you stuck up for me a few times," Willy commented. "I never understood why the other kids teased you. You were a little bit different than other kids in some ways...but that's why I liked you. You weren't afraid to march to the beat of your own drum. And you still aren't, which is one of the reasons I..." instead of finishing her sentence, Ronnie leaned over and tenderly kissed the chocolatier.

Willy happily returned the favor. Then, just as he and Ronnie were finishing up their kiss, a loud beeping sound jolted them out of the moment. Willy reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocket watch. "Darn little bugger!" he scolded it. "It's midnight. I set my watch alarm for that time to remind me to stop working and go to bed. It was Charlie's and Mrs. Bucket's idea," he explained to Ronnie. Ronnie giggled. "It seems that it can be very inconvenient at times, though," she commented. "That it can," agreed Willy.

Not long after the watch incident they arrived at a door with a picture of a strawberry on it. "Here we are, the Strawberry Bedroom!" Willy announced as he opened the door and ushered Ronnie inside. As Ronnie looked around the room, she thought she'd faint from happiness. The room was even better than she'd expected! The wallpaper had pictures of both plain and chocolate-dipped strawberries, the bed was shaped like a gigantic strawberry and featured pillows designed to look like strawberry leaves, the dresser was decorated to look like a strawberry bush and had strawberry drawer knobs, and even the bedside table lamp was shaped like a strawberry.

"Do you like it?" Willy asked eagerly. "I love it!" Ronnie exclaimed. Willy clapped his hands and grinned. "And you haven't even see all of it yet. Go check out the bathroom," he replied. Ronnie didn't need to be told twice. She did as Willy suggested...and found that it was even better than the actual bedroom! It featured a strawberry bathmat, strawberry towels, and even a strawberry toilet seat cover and toilet paper with pictures of strawberries on it. On the sink were strawberry-themed toiletries, including strawberry toothpaste, strawberry lotion, strawberry soap, and strawberry lip balm. But the best thing of all was the strawberry jacuzzi (complete, of course, with a bottle of strawberry shampoo!).

"It has strawberry bubbles, too!" Willy said happily (it hadn't taken him long to notice Ronnie admiring the jacuzzi!). "I love this room!" Ronnie gushed as they headed back into the bedroom. "I'm glad. By the way, that wallpaper is my special lickable wallpaper," replied Willy. Ronnie wasn't sure quite what to think of that. She liked the idea of lickable wallpaper...but the thought that a lot of other people's tongues had touched it was definitely NOT appealing! Willy noticed the look of disgust on Ronnie's face and quickly said, "Don't worry. We clean it with special non-toxic, non-taste removing sanitizer after someone has licked it!"

Ronnie sighed with relief. "I'm very relieved to hear that!" she said. "Come on, did you really think I would let the wallpaper become a germ factory?" Willy teased. "Well, no," Ronnie admitted, feeling rather embarrassed that she'd gotten so carried away. "I'll bet Willy tastes even better than that wallpaper!" she found herself thinking. Willy's cheeks turned pink. "Er, thanks. I've had lots of people write to me and tell me how tasty my candy is...but I've never heard anyone call ME tasty before," he said.

Needless to say, Ronnie was extremely mortified. It was bad enough that she had been thinking such dirty thoughts in the first place, but the realization that she had actually spoken those thoughts aloud made her wish with all her might that the floor would open up and swallow her. She couldn't believe she had basically just told Willy that she wouldn't mind going a bit further than simple kissing! "Did I really just...I didn't mean to say that out loud!" she stammered. "Hey, don't worry about it. I don't mind that you said that," the chocolatier assured her.

Before Willy or Ronnie could say anything more, Willy let out a huge yawn. Now it was his turn to be mortified! "Excuse me," he apologized. "Don't worry about it. I think that's a signal to us that we should get to bed," said Ronnie. Willy laughed. "Yeah, probably. Goodnight, Ronnie," he said. "Goodnight, Willy," Ronnie said.

Once Willy had left, Ronnie put on the nightgown Mrs. Bucket had loaned her and climbed into bed...only to discover that she couldn't get to sleep! She groaned as she got back up. "Now what am I supposed to do?" she wondered. She briefly considered having a soak in the jacuzzi, but then realized that wouldn't be very practical given how late it was! She needed something that wouldn't take that much time. Finally, she settled for sitting in the armchair (which was, of course, shaped like a strawberry) and just letting her mind wander. It wandered right to what Willy had said earlier about her having stuck up for him a few times at school. One time in particular stood out to her...

"_Do they HAVE to serve this awful stuff?" "Yeah, really. I can't believe they actually expect us to eat this!" "We should make THEM eat it! Then maybe they'd start fixing stuff that's actually eatable!" "No wonder most of the teachers bring their own lunches!" "Yeah, I wish my parents would let me do that. But no, I have to eat the hot lunch unless the main dish is a food I've tried several times before and still can't stand!"_

_It was noon on a weekday, and that meant only one thing for Ronnie and her schoolmates: school lunchtime. The conversations going on around Ronnie were the same ones that went on every day at lunch. Complaining about the hot lunch had become a school tradition (so was practically whispering those complaints to insure that the teachers on cafeteria duty wouldn't overhear!). Although Ronnie didn't normally join in the conversations, she didn't feel any more affection for the hot lunches than the other students did._

_Today's lunch was no exception. "Ugh!" she thought as she looked in disgust at her overcooked noodles with glue sauce. Well, that's what she thought it should have been called. The menu had listed it as pasta Alfredo. But over cooked noodles with glue sauce was definitely a much better description! As she reluctantly began eating, she noticed that, just as she was sitting by herself, a boy was sitting by himself at the next table over. It was Willy Wonka, and Ronnie noticed that he was barely eating. Instead, he was just picking at his food. _

_If he had been any other kid, she wouldn't have thought anything of at. After all, no one liked the hot lunches. But Ronnie knew that, just like with so many other things, Dr. Wonka was super-strict about meals and expected Willy to clean his plate (Willy had mentioned that in class once during a discussion about the importance of healthy eating). So she knew that something was up with Willy. But before she had time to ponder that any further, Willy abruptly get up from his table with his still mostly-full tray of food. _

"_Hey, metal head, aren't you supposed to clean your tray?" a boy at a neighboring table taunted. "You'd better hope daddy doesn't find out!" taunted another. "Was the food too awful for tinsel face?" that taunt came from Terrance, one of Willy and Ronnie's classmates and one of the worst when it came to teasing Willy. Ronnie felt her blood boil. She didn't understand how those kids could be so awful._

_Unfortunately, after recess, something beyond awful happened. Ronnie normally enjoyed the period right after recess, because it was her favorite subject, art. But that day's art class was one she would rather have forgotten (she knew Willy wanted to forget it, too!). At first, it was like any other art class. Mrs. Brooks was explaining that day's art project, and Ronnie was listening eagerly. _

_But right in the middle of Mrs. Brooks' explanation, Willy jumped out of his chair and began running out of the room. "Willy, what do you think you're doing?" Mrs. Brooks asked, sounding understandably shocked (after all, if a student needed to leave the room for some reason, he or she was obviously expected to raise their hand and ask permission, not just run out of the room!)._

_Willy stopped in his tracks. But before he could even start to answer Mrs. Brooks, what is perhaps every kid's worst nightmare happened: his pasta Alfredo ended up all over the floor. Ronnie felt terrible for him. It was bad enough that Willy had gotten sick in front of the entire class, but he had obviously been trying to get to the bathroom in time. "EWWWWW! That's disgusting!" exclaimed one of Ronnie's and Willy's classmates. "YOU'RE disgusting, barf-mouth! And what a baby! You couldn't even make it to the bathroom on time!" Terrance jeered. _

_Ronnie couldn't take it any longer. She leaped out of her chair. "For your information, Terrance, Willy was obviously TRYING to make it to the bathroom on time. And how would YOU like it if someone called YOU 'barf-mouth' and 'disgusting'?" she retorted. "Awww, isn't that sweet, Ronnie's sticking up for her little boyfriend!" Terrance taunted. "I'm sticking up for him because he's a good person, and he doesn't deserve to get ripped apart like this!" Ronnie exclaimed. "Sure you are!" Terrance sneered. _

"_Terrance, that's enough! One more word and you'll earn yourself a trip to Mr. Wilkins's office! " Mrs. Brooks said sternly. Mr. Wilkins was the principal. Naturally the last thing any student wanted was to end up in his office! Terrance quickly quieted down. "Mrs. Brooks, I can walk Willy to the nurse's office," Ronnie offered. "Thank you, Ronnie. I appreciate that," Mrs. Brooks replied. Then she turned back to Terrance. "And Terrance, would you please go and find the janitor?" she asked. It was all Ronnie could do not to giggle. "Serves him right!" she thought. As she led Willy to the nurse's office, he flashed her a grateful smile..._

Ronnie was jolted out of her flashback by a knock on her door. As she hurried to answer it, her first thought was that there was some sort of emergency (Ronnie wasn't normally the panicky type, but she couldn't figure out why else someone would be knocking on her door at the hour!). She flung open the door, expecting to find an Oompa Loompa or one of the Buckets. Instead, it was Willy that she came face-to-face with. He was wearing his bathrobe and a pair of slippers and he looked a bit sheepish.

"I hope I didn't wake you up," the chocolatier apologized. "You didn't, because I can't get to sleep," Ronnie replied. "I can't either. That's why I stopped by. I was wondering if you'd like to take a walk or something," said Willy. "Of course I would!" Ronnie said eagerly. "'Kay then, let's go!" said Willy. "It would be nice to take our walk in the Chocolate Room, but I suppose we'd better not. The Buckets probably wouldn't be too happy if we woke them up," Ronnie commented as they headed for the elevator. Willy giggled. "No, probably not. But that's okay. I was thinking we could walk in the Wintergreen Room," he said.

"It sounds like a lovely room. I can't wait to see it," Ronnie said. Willy grinned. "I think you're going to like it," he told her. They had reached the elevator by now, and Willy stepped into it. As Ronnie did the same, she realized something that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of earlier. She was in stocking feet (having taken her shoes off when she was getting ready for bed), the elevator was completely made of glass...and glass and socks is about the worst combination you could possibly have.

Unfortunately, she had realized it too late, as the next thing she knew she was slipping and sliding all over the elevator floor, struggling to keep her balance. "If I don't crash into the wall, I'll probably knock Willy over, knowing my luck!" she thought, feeling disgusted with herself for not stopping to put on her shoes before leaving her room. Luckily, Willy was thinking more clearly than Ronnie. He quickly reached out to grab her hand to steady her.

But because Ronnie was slipping so much, he missed and ended up grabbing her shoulder instead. Not only that, but he accidentally grabbed the shoulder strap of her nightgown in the process, pulling it down. This, of course, meant that half of the top of the nightgown slipped down with it...which didn't exactly leave much to the imagination! Both Willy and Ronnie felt extremely awkward, to say the very least! Neither of them knew quite what to say.

At that moment, the elevator arrived at the Wintergreen room. That room had always been Willy's favorites. "It's so delectable and so darn good looking!" he said without thinking. Then, with horror, he realized just where he had been looking when he had said that (he and Ronnie had both basically frozen in embarrassment after the shoulder strap incident), and clapped his hand over his mouth. "I...I didn't mean...I was talking about the room, honest! And I really didn't mean to stare. I just..." he stammered. Ronnie held up her hand to stop him. "Willy, it's all right. The whole thing is my fault anyway. If I had just put my shoes on before leaving my room, none of this would have happened," she reassured him.

"Well, I should have been more careful about how I grabbed you," Willy said. Ronnie started laughing as she pulled her shoulder strap back up. "Are we going to take a walk, or are we just going to keep apologizing to each other and chewing ourselves out?" she asked. Willy started to laugh too. "I say we take the walk!" he said.

As they began to walk, Ronnie noticed that the room was filled with evergreen trees (she hadn't really had the chance to take a good look at the room before, since she and Willy had still been recovering from their embarrassment). "Are those trees made out of mint?" she asked. "How did you know?" Willy said happily. "They just looked like mint trees to me," Ronnie said. Willy beamed. "It's the wintergreen forest," he said proudly. "Well, I love it!" said Ronnie. "Well, come on then. We'll walk through it," Willy said. Ronnie grinned. "Okay, let's go!" she said.

They hadn't been walking for too long when they realized that they were both finally starting to get tired. "Why don't we sit down and rest for a little while," Willy suggested. "Good idea," Ronnie said as they sat against the trunk of one of the trees. As often happens when someone who's tired sits down, it didn't take Willy and Ronnie long to feel downright sleepy.

Ronnie rested her head against Willy's shoulder. Then she felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier...and the next thing she knew, she was blinking them open to find the room's "sunlights" on (since virtually none of the rooms in the factory had windows, Willy had come up with a special type of lighting that made the rooms look as though they were bathed in sunlight), Oompa Loompas at work...and a smiling Mrs. Bucket standing in front of her and Willy. "Good morning, sleepy heads," she greeted them.

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**A/n: **Sorry about that cliffhanger! It just sort of wrote itself!

**Chapter 15 Preview: **Willy insists on escorting Ronnie home after the blizzard stops...so Ronnie invites him to visit with her at her apartment for a bit! But is it really just a visit? Or, as the Buckets are convinced, has Ronnie really just asked Willy on a date? And Willy and Ronnie find out some surprising news about the candy shop Ronnie lives above...news that might just prove very useful to them!


	16. Chapter 15: A Date of Surprises

**Disclaimer: **Nothing in this story is mine!

**A/n: **Surprise! It's already time for the next chapter of Confusion! As always, please keep those reviews coming (and you know what I'll do with flames! :))!

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It didn't take Ronnie very long to figure out that she and Willy had not only ended up sleeping in the Wintergreen Room all night, but they had managed to oversleep as well (since there was really no other reason for Mrs. Bucket deciding to go look for them!). "What time is it?" Willy suddenly asked (Ronnie knew then that he'd come to the same conclusion she had). "It's ten-thirty," Mrs. Bucket answered. Ronnie was shocked. She knew they'd overslept, but she'd had no idea they'd overslept THAT much! "No wonder you came looking for us," she said to Mrs. Bucket.

"At first we thought the two of you were just spending some time together before coming to breakfast and had lost track of time for a bit, but when nearly two hours had gone by, we knew that wasn't the case," Mrs. Bucket replied. Ronnie felt guilty. "I'm sorry we made you worry," she apologized. "That's all right. We weren't that worried, actually. It's not like Willy to be that late, but we knew that if something really bad had happened, an Oompa Loompa probably would have notified us. Charlie suggested that we ask the Oompa Loompas if they had any idea where you might be. So we did, and the Chocolate Room Oompa Loompas agreed to check with the Oompa Loompas in the other rooms to see if any of them knew where you were. And you can probably figure out the rest," Mrs. Bucket explained.

Then Ronnie realized something that made her feel even guiltier than she already did. "You guys weren't waiting for us for breakfast all this time, were you?" she asked. "Charlie insisted that we not eat until we find you guys, and the rest of us agreed that was what we wanted to do," Mrs. Bucket answered. "Sorry about that. We didn't mean to cause so much trouble!" Ronnie said. "It's okay, Ronnie. You don't have to keep apologizing. We know you didn't mean for this to happen," Mrs. Bucket assured her. "Thanks for being so understanding, Mrs. Bucket," Willy spoke up. "It was no problem," Mrs. Bucket insisted. Then she smiled and added, "So, would you like to join us for brunch? We decided that, since noon is only an hour and a half away, we'd just make breakfast brunch instead."

"We'd love to!" said Willy and Ronnie at the same time. Then Willy looked down at his bathrobe and added, "Do we have time to change first, though?" "Of course you do. I haven't even started making brunch yet. It will be ready in about half an hour," said Mrs. Bucket. "'Kay, we'll see you in a half hour," said Willy. "Sounds good to me. I think you're going to love the brunch!" Mrs. Bucket said as she left.

Not too much later, Ronnie was back in her room (after a non-eventful elevator ride, much to her relief!). Since Willy wasn't due to pick her up for brunch for 20 minutes (they figured it made the most sense for them to meet up after they were finished changing and go to brunch together. Plus, they didn't want to spend any more time apart than was necessary!), she decided to take a quick soak in the jacuzzi. She sighed with contentment as she relaxed in the warm water, while the bubble jets gave her back (which was a little sore from having spent the night sleeping in a sitting position!) a gentle massage. "I wish I had one of these at home!" she said aloud.

Ronnie had bathed in jacuzzis before, but this one was better than any of the others she'd tried. The strawberry bubbles smelled wonderful, the water was just the right temperature, and she swore the bubble jets somehow knew just the right amount of pressure to aim at her back! Then, just as she was thinking that she couldn't possibly feel more relaxed if she tried, she heard a loud knocking sound. That's when she realized that she had been enjoying the jacuzzi so much she had completely forgotten about the time!

"I can't believe I let this happen!" she exclaimed as she hurriedly drained the jacuzzi, dried herself off, and ran back into her bedroom.

There she about broke a speed record getting dressed and brushing her hair. Then she ran over to the door and yanked it open. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting! I was taking a bath in the jacuzzi and I completely forgot about the time!" she apologized to Willy. "Hey, don't worry about it," the chocolatier assured her.

After another uneventful elevator ride (Ronnie could hardly believe that they had managed to ride in the elevator twice in a row without anything embarrassing happening!) they arrived in the Chocolate Room. "Well, the two lovebirds have finally arrived!" Grandpa George commented as they entered the Buckets' cottage. "Dad!" Mrs. Bucket said warningly. Then she turned to Willy and Ronnie. "Don't mind him. I only just now finished fixing brunch anyway," she told them. "Well, whatever you made, it sure smells good!" Ronnie said as she and Willy took their places at the table.

Mrs. Bucket, who had started dishing up plates, smiled. "Thanks. I made egg bake and toast," she said. As soon as she had been dished up, Ronnie took a big bite of her egg bake. "Yum!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad you think so," said Mrs. Bucket. "Willy, Ronnie, before we forget, we were watching the news for a bit before you got here, and the blizzard is over now," Mr. Bucket spoke up. Ronnie knew what that meant: There really wasn't any excuse for her not to go home now. Besides which, she needed to go to work the next day. She sighed sadly. "I guess I should get going after brunch, then," she said.

"I can walk you home if you'd like," Willy said. Ronnie grinned as an idea popped into her head. "I'd like that. In fact, why don't you just stay at my place for a little while. That way we can visit some more, you can see where I live, and maybe later we could...you know, go out for dinner or something," she said. "I love that idea!" Willy exclaimed happily. "Are you sure you're not really asking Willy on a date, Ronnie?" Mr. Bucket teased. "Sure sounds like it to me," said Grandpa George. "Well...I...He's just coming to my place for a visit. That's what friends do," Ronnie replied. "See? She didn't deny that it's a date!" said Grandpa George. "I know friends visit each other...but it sounds like more than just that to me!" Mr. Bucket couldn't resist teasing.

"Dad, James! Stop it! Whatever Ronnie's reasons are for inviting Willy to her place are, they aren't any of our business! If she wanted us to know the reasons, she'd tell us," Mrs. Bucket scolded. "Sorry. Nora's right, I shouldn't have teased you like that," Mr. Bucket apologized to Ronnie. "That's all right," Ronnie told him.

Shortly after that rather awkward exchange, brunch was over. "Do you need to go back to your room to get anything?" Willy asked as he and Ronnie got ready to go. "No, I have everything with me. I may have been in a hurry, but somehow I managed to remember to grab my purse on the way out," Ronnie replied. She and Willy exchanged a glance and burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Charlie asked. "It's a long story, trust me," Ronnie replied. "Yeah. So, are you 'kay with overseeing things here again today?" Willy added. "I sure am," Charlie replied. "All righty, then. I'll be back sometime tonight," Willy told the Buckets. "See you tonight, Willy. And Ronnie, I hope we'll see you again soon," said Mrs. Bucket. "Thanks, Mrs. Bucket," said Ronnie. Then she turned to Willy. "Well then, let's go," she said.

A few minutes later, Willy and Ronnie were outside wading through the snow, with Ronnie feeling very grateful that she'd thought to wear her boots to the factory the day before! "We certainly got plenty of snow last night!" Willy commented. "Yeah, but it's so pretty," Ronnie said. "Uh, by the way, you know how Mr. Bucket and Grandpa George were asking if this was a...well...you know, a..." Willy stammered. "A date?" Ronnie supplied. "Yeah, that. Well, is it?" Willy inquired. Ronnie grinned. "What do you think?" she teased.

Willy grinned back. "This is what I think," he said as he started to lean towards Ronnie's lips. Then he remembered that they were outside walking on a sidewalk...in full view of any passing cars or pedestrians. He was pretty well disguised in his black overcoat and sunglasses, but he still didn't want to take any chances (after all, if it got leaked to the media that Willy Wonka was seen not only out and about, but kissing a woman, they would never leave him alone!). So he quickly stood back up. "I think yes, it a...well, what you said," he told Ronnie. Luckily Ronnie understood why Willy had changed tactics.

"I'd say you guessed right," she said, her grin getting even bigger. At that moment, they arrived at Willy's old candy shop. "This is where I live, right above this shop," she said, gesturing to the building. Willy's mouth dropped open when he saw where Ronnie was pointing. "I didn't know you lived above my old candy shop!" he exclaimed in amazement. By now, Ronnie was grinning so hard she thought her cheeks might break. "Well, you do now," she said. "So, what's your opinion on the candy shop that's there now?" Willy asked as they climbed the stairs to Ronnie's apartment. "I like it, mainly because they sell Wonka candy," Ronnie said.

"Yeah, I was glad the new shop owner agreed to continue selling at least some Wonka products here. I didn't want this to be a shop that sold anything but Wonka stuff," Willy said. Ronnie understood what Willy was saying, but at the same time she was a bit confused (it wasn't his shop anymore, after all, so it wasn't really up to him what was sold there!). She decided not to press the issue, though. Instead, she opened the door and ushered Willy inside. "Well, this is my place," she said.

"It like it...and you certainly do a much better job of cleaning than I do!" Willy commented. Ronnie laughed. "Believe me, it's actually rare for it to be this tidy. The kitchen especially is usually quite a mess, what with all the baking and candy experimenting I do," she said. "Hey, a messy kitchen is the mark of a good chef, you know," said Willy. "That's how I like to think of it," Ronnie replied. "May I see your kitchen? As you can imagine, I like looking at kitchens and other places food is made," Willy asked. "Of course! In fact, why don't I give you a..." Ronnie began. She was interrupted by the doorbell. "Ugh. Somebody WOULD have to stop by while I'm visiting with Willy!" she thought.

Then she realized that she was going to have find someplace for Willy to hide out (since his being in a woman's apartment would definitely arouse suspicion!). The problem was that her apartment wasn't all that big, and she knew she probably couldn't hide him in the kitchen or bathroom without it looking suspicious, and she thought sticking him in a closet would be rather silly. That left only one option, and she knew it was going to be a bit awkward for Willy. "I know this is a bit awkward, but you'll have to hide in my bedroom until this person is gone. It's right down the hall, first door on the left," she told the chocolatier. "'Kay," Willy said as he headed down the hall.

As soon as she heard her bedroom door close, Ronnie opened the outside door...and was surprised to find her landlady standing there. "Hello, Mrs. Jones. Come on in," she said. "Thank you," Mrs. Jones said as she stepped inside. "Would you like something to drink?" Ronnie asked once Mrs. Jones had taken a seat on the couch. "No thanks. I can't stay long. I just had to come and tell you about some unfortunate news that may affect your renting of this apartment," Mrs. Jones said.

Needless to say, that did not make Ronnie feel very good! "What news?" she asked. "Well, basically, I have to close down the candy store," Mrs. Jones said. Ronnie hadn't had any idea what Mrs. Jones was going to say, but she definitely had not been expecting that! "Whatever for? I mean, I don't mean to be nosy, but the shop seemed to be doing so well," Ronnie said.

Mrs. Jones sighed, and her blue eyes looked sad. "It's not because the shop isn't doing well. It's a family issue. Some of my family members are having a lot of trouble. I'm going to be moving closer to them to help out. Because they live several hours away, that also means I have to close the shop," she said. "I'm sorry to hear about your family troubles," Ronnie said. "Thank you for your support. Now, the reason I'm telling you all this is because my moving might mean you can't live here anymore?

"What do you mean, might?" Ronnie asked, utterly confused (after all, if the landlady left, of course Ronnie couldn't live there anymore!). "Well, I don't actually own this place. As you know, this used to be Willy Wonka's candy shop. He still owns the building, but as you know, he has an extreme dislike of going out and dealing with people. So when I rented the shop, we agreed that he would write up the terms for renting this apartment, and then I would take care of finding a renter and collecting payments and such," Mrs. Jones explained. Ronnie could hardly believe her ears. "Willy Wonka still owns this building?" she asked. "Yes, he does. So it's obviously up to him as to whether or not you can keep living here. I've already notified him, and he should be getting the letter very soon if he hasn't already," said Mrs. Jones. "Well, thanks for telling me," Ronnie said. "No problem. Now, I best get going," said Mrs. Jones.

Once Mrs. Jones was safely out of the apartment, Ronnie ran back to her bedroom and yanked open the door. "Why didn't you tell me you still own this place?" she asked. "Well, it's kinda embarrassing, but I had forgotten you didn't know," Willy replied. "That's all right," she assured Willy. "I assume I can keep living here?" Ronnie said. "Of course you can! You didn't even need to ask," Willy answered. "Do you think you'll rent the building out again?" Ronnie asked. "I don't know. I was sort of thinking I could use it for something...but I'm just not sure what."

"Have you ever been interested in expanding your candy line to include baked goods?" Ronnie found herself asking. "You must be a mind-reader! I've gone back and forth about whether to add some sort of bakery to the factory for years, and..." Willy said, stopping in mid-sentence. Ronnie knew that he had just had the same thought she did. "You could use this place for a bakery," she said. "Hey, yeah! And you've you said you'd love to bake. Would you be at all interested in going into the baking business?" Willy said eagerly. "Would I? Willy, I'd love that more than anything!" Ronnie replied just as eagerly. Willy grinned an ear-to-ear grin. "Well, then, welcome to Wonka's Chocolates!" he said.

Ronnie now wore a grin to match Willy's. "I'll give Slugworth my 30 day notice right away!" she said happily. But then she thought of something that made her hopes fade a bit. "Wait, is it really right for me to be working for you when we're dating?" she asked. "Well...nobody has to know we're dating, and if you don't have a problem with it, I sure don't," Willy said. "I don't, either," said Ronnie. "Besides, it'll take awhile to get the bakery opened," Willy pointed out. "You're right. I guess we can cross that bridge when we come to it," Ronnie said. "That's the spirit!" Willy agreed.

Ronnie, still feeling giddy with excitement, jumped up and grabbed the phone off her night table. "I know I suggested going out for dinner earlier, but what do you say we celebrate here, just the two of us, take-out style?" she asked. "I say yes!" said Willy, sounding every bit as giddy as Ronnie. "How about pizza? I know this really good pizza place," Ronnie suggested. "Sounds good to me," said Willy. So Ronnie dialed the pizza place and placed their order. Then she started to laugh. "We seem to be on an Italian food kick. Spaghetti yesterday, pizza today," she said. Willy laughed, too. "I guess we are!" he said.

Ronnie and Willy didn't waste any time. The moment the pizza arrived, they dug right in. "Delicious!" Willy commented. "I'll say. I always love their pizza," Ronnie said. Needless to say, it did not take them very long to polish off the pizza! After having ice cream sundaes for dessert (Ronnie happened to have ice cream and sundae fixings in her freezer and fridge), Willy reluctantly left (it was already evening by that time, and he knew he should probably try to get some work done that day). But he wasn't too sad, because he and Ronnie had already set up another date for later that week!

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**Chapter 16 Preview: **It's been a little over a month since Willy and Ronnie's date, and plans for the bakery are going very well. And as Easter nears, Willy asks Mr. Bucket and Grandpa Joe for advice on a very important decison he has made!


	17. Chapter 16: Of Advice and Love

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **A big thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter! Please keep those reviews coming! As I've said before, they're what inspire me to write more.

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To say that Willy and Ronnie's decision to open a bakery in Willy's original candy shop was met with enthusiasm was a huge understatement! The Buckets were thrilled with the idea and immediately volunteered to help, and as for the Oompa Loompas, well, the bakery was pretty much all they talked about (including, at times, when they were supposed to be working...which, needless to say, Willy was not pleased about!)! The rest of February flew by as they worked busily on plans for the bakery, as did March, and before they knew it, it was nearly April.

"My goodness, where has time gone? It seems like just yesterday that Willy and Ronnie came up with the idea for the bakery, and now here it is almost April!" Mrs. Bucket remarked at supper one night. "I'm with you, mom. Willy and I were just doing a holiday check today, and we were both a bit surprised to find that Easter is coming up in just a few weeks already," Charlie agreed. "Well, I guess time flies when you're planning a bakery," Mr. Bucket commented. "And going on lots of dates," Charlie couldn't resist teasing Willy. To everyone's surprise, however, Willy did not immediately retort. In fact, he smiled and his eyes took on a dreamy look. "Willy, are you having a flashback?" Charlie asked.

Willy shook himself. "What? Oh, no. Just thinking," he responded. "About Ronnie, right?" Charlie kidded. "Maybe, maybe not...but it's none of your beeswax!" Willy retorted. "So, is everyone looking forward to our next planning session for the bakery?" Mrs. Bucket asked suddenly (she could tell that Willy desperately wanted to change the subject!). Mr. Bucket grinned. "You know what the answer to that question is!" he teased. Mrs. Bucket grinned back. "Yeah, probably a pretty silly question," she said. Everyone laughed. Everyone, that is, except Willy. He seemed lost in thought again...only this time he looked nervous rather than dreamy. "Willy, are you all right?" Mrs. Bucket asked.

Willy quickly snapped out of his thoughts. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm 'kay," he said. By the end of supper, however, the Buckets knew that Willy was anything but okay. He kept drifting off in thought, sometimes looking happy, but mostly looking nervous. He didn't seem to be interested in talking about the bakery, and when Grandma Georgina accidentally knocked over her water glass, he jumped about a foot into the air. "Willy, are you SURE you're all right?" Mrs. Bucket asked as she began cleaning off the table. "I...I...I need to take a walk!" the chocolatier exclaimed as he got up out of his chair and headed for the door.

The Buckets exchanged glances. "I could use a walk myself. Mind if I go with you?" Mr. Bucket asked. To everyone's surprise, Willy looked almost relieved. "Not a bit," he responded. "I would like to go with, too, if you don't mind. I could use the exercise," Grandpa Joe spoke up. "Why not? The more, the merrier!" Willy replied, surprising everyone once again. "Have fun," Mrs. Bucket told them, hiding a smile (she knew darn well that Mr. Bucket and Grandpa Joe and "volunteered" to walk with Willy so they could try to talk to him about whatever was bothering him). "Thanks," Mr. Bucket responded as he, Grandpa Joe, and Willy stepped out into the Chocolate Room.

As soon as they were out of earshot of the other Buckets, Mr. Bucket turned to Willy and asked, "Would you like to talk about whatever is bothering you, Willy?" Willy hesitated for a moment, then replied, "You know that Ronnie and I have been dating, obviously." (it hadn't taken him long to be able to say that word to the Buckets!). Mr. Bucket nodded. But before he could reply, Willy spoke again. "Well, now I love her so much that I don't want to just date her anymore. What I mean is, I want to...well, I want to..." he stammered (Willy had shocked himself by also being able to say the word "love", and specifically that he loved Ronnie, to the Buckets shortly after he and Ronnie had started dating).

Grandpa Joe was the first to realize what Willy was trying to say. "You want to ask Ronnie to marry you, right?" he said. Willy grinned. "Yeah, I do. I mean, I know we've only been dating for a few months and everything, but I..." he began. Grandpa Joe held up his hand to stop him. "Willy, it's all right. You don't have to explain yourself. Sometimes a few months is all it takes. That's how it happened with Josie and I," he assured the chocolatier. "The thing is, as you know, I've never proposed before. So I don't really know how to go about it...and I want to make sure I do it right!" Willy explained.

This time it was Mr. Bucket who was the first to realize what Willy was getting at. "No wonder you were so jittery at supper! You wanted some man-to-man advice but weren't sure how to go about asking for it," he said. "Yeah, that," Willy agreed. "There's always the classic. You know, take her out for a fancy dinner and then propose at some point during it," Mr. Bucket said. To both his and Willy's surprise, Grandpa Joe burst out laughing. "What's so funny about proposing over dinner?" Mr. Bucket inquired.

"Under normal circumstances, nothing. But when I decided to propose to Josie, I intended to use that method. The only thing is, it didn't exactly work out the way I'd intended it to," Grandpa Joe explained, getting the giggles once again. Now Mr. Bucket understood what Grandpa Joe was getting at, and he laughed, too. He'd heard the story of his dad's proposal many times, and it was pretty funny. Willy, however, had obviously not heard the story before, so he had no clue as to why Grandpa Joe and Mr. Bucket were suddenly in hysterics. "Er, I'm trying to get some advice here," he reminded them.

Grandpa Joe recovered first. "Sorry about that, Willy. I suppose I'd better explain," he said. "Yeah, that would be good," said Willy. "Well, while I certainly wasn't loaded by any stretch of the imagination, I had more money in those days. So I decided to splurge and take Josie to dinner at this fancy seafood restaurant that had just opened. I made the reservation, bought the ring, and even arranged for a vase of flowers to be waiting at the table for Josie. I had meant to keep the entire thing a surprise, but during a phone conversation with Josie a few days before the big event, I let it slip that I was taking her out to the seafood place for dinner. But it ended up being a very good thing I did. It turns out that Josie is allergic to shellfish and a lot of other types of seafood," explained Grandpa Joe.

"Uh oh! So what did you do?" Willy inquired. "The first thing I did was cancel that reservation. But then I realized I had quite a dilemma on my hands. I didn't want to post-pone the proposal, but it was right before Easter so I knew that my chances of getting a reservation at another restaurant on such short notice were not promising. So in the end, we went to **Wings 'N Things**, which was a fast-food chicken place. Not exactly the romantic dinner I'd had in mind!" said Grandpa Joe. Now Willy was laughing, too. "Sounds like quite the experience," he said.

"It was indeed. There I was, down on one knee, proposing in the middle of a fast-food place, with the smell of fried chicken surrounding us and pretty much everyone in the place staring at us. When Josie accepted the ring, she was both crying and laughing. That naturally looked and sounded quite comical, which caused people to stare at us even more. On our way out, one of the cashiers remarked to us that it wasn't often they got to witness a proposal!" Grandpa Joe hooted. By now the three men were laughing so hard that their sides ached.

"What in the world is going on out here?" a very familiar female voice spoke up suddenly. Mr. Bucket recovered first. "Uh, nothing. We were just talking," Mr. Bucket told his wife. "Well, whatever you were discussing, it must have been pretty darn amusing. I thought a pack of hyenas had invaded the Chocolate Room!" Mrs. Bucket responded.

"Trust me, Nora, it was nothing. We were just having a good time," said Grandpa Joe. "All right, if you say so," Mrs. Bucket said, sounding like she wasn't believing them for a second.

After Mrs. Bucket left, the men somehow managed to pull themselves back together. "I'm afraid my story isn't nearly as interesting, Willy. Given how poor we were at the time, taking Nora any place for dinner was obviously out of the question. However, I knew that she loved chocolate, especially chocolate ice cream cake. I also knew that she really liked carnations, particularly red ones," said Mr. Bucket. "I have a feeling I know where this is leading," said Willy, remembering what Mrs. Bucket had said at Valentine's Day supper. Mr. Bucket grinned. "I asked her over to my place for a date. Before she arrived, I very carefully placed her ring, which I had saved and saved for, and a red carnation on top of the ice cream cake. And you can probably guess the rest," he said.

"Thanks, you two. I think I have some ideas now," said Willy. "Any time, Willy," said Mr. Bucket. "And if you ever need any more proposal or romantic advice, don't hesitate to come to us," Grandpa Joe added. "I won't. Thanks again," Willy said. As he got up and went on his way, Mr. Bucket and Grandpa Joe were pleased to see that he seemed much more relaxed than he had at supper. He was humming, and even skipping a bit.

Willy spent practically every spare moment of the rest of the week planning his proposal. There were times when he felt as if he would never be able to come up with the perfect way to propose, but finally he was ready to put his plan into action. He chose that Monday as the date, since it also happened to be Ronnie's last day at Slugworth's. Ronnie had told him that she would be working her regular shift, which ended at five (even though it was her last day there, Slugworth had insisted. Unsurprisingly, he did not believe in giving his employees any special privileges, even on their last day on the job!). So at twenty minutes to, Willy headed over to her apartment (Mrs. Jones had had a key to the apartment for emergencies and such, and after she'd left, Willy and Ronnie agreed that he should keep it.).

After what seemed like forever to Willy, Ronnie arrived. Needless to say, she was quite surprised to find Willy sitting in her living room! She opened her mouth to speak, but Willy beat her to it. "I was wondering, would you like to have dinner with me at the factory tonight?" he asked. "What kind of question is that? Of course I would!" Ronnie exclaimed, a grin spreading across her face. "I wanted to pick you up at Slugworth's, but I figured that would be too risky," Willy explained. Ronnie knew just what Willy meant. If Slugworth had seen Willy hanging around outside his factory, there was no way he wouldn't have asked questions! Not to mention the fact that just about anyone would find it suspicious that Willy was at his rival's factory! "Yeah, better this way," she agreed as they headed to the factory.

"I hope you're really hungry, 'cause I made us a feast!" Willy said happily as they walked into the factory. "Don't worry, I'm starving!" Ronnie assured the chocolatier. "I'm very glad to hear that. I think you're really going to like what I chose for dinner!" Willy said with a grin. Ronnie grinned back. The grin quickly faded, however, as she realized that she had forgotten to change out of her work uniform (because she didn't want to wear her uniform any longer than necessary, she kept a change of clothes in her purse and changed at Slugworth's before leaving to go home. That day, however, she had been so eager to get out of the place that she'd forgotten!). "Do you mind if I change out of my uniform before we head for the Wintergreen Room?" she asked (whenever she and Willy had dinner without the Buckets, they ate in the Wintergreen Room). "Not at all, but we're not going to eat in the Wintergreen Room tonight," Willy replied. "Then where are we going to eat?" Ronnie asked. Willy's grin grew even bigger. "You'll just have to wait and see," he said.

"Willy is sure acting mysterious tonight!" Ronnie thought as she ducked into the nearest bathroom (luckily there was one not to far from the Chocolate Room) to change. "That's much better!" Willy remarked when she emerged. Ronnie laughed. "I am extremely glad not have to wear that disgusting thing anymore, believe me!" she replied. Willy laughed, too. "Would you like me to burn it for you?" he asked. "I'd love that...but Slugworth told me that I'm to wash it and then mail it back to him," Ronnie said. "Oh, well. At least you won't have to see it again after that," said Willy. "I'm not going to miss it, that's for sure!" Ronnie agreed. Before either of them could say anything more, they arrived at their destination.

"Here we are! The Yummerific Dining Room!" Willy exclaimed. Ronnie looked around the room in awe. It was one of the fanciest rooms she had seen in the factory so far. But at the same time, it also managed to capture the fun and whimsical spirit of the rest of the factory. "It's beautiful! I didn't know you had a formal dining room," she said. "I don't use it much. In fact, the last time I used it was probably when I still had human workers. We would sometimes use it for candy tasting parties and other events," Willy explained. Then he gestured towards the table (which was small, with only two chairs, and topped with food that smelled so good Ronnie was practically drooling!). "Well, have a seat and let's start eating," he said. Ronnie didn't need to be told twice. She quickly sat down in one of the chairs.

Willy, meanwhile, was starting to take the covers off of the dishes of food. "So, what would you like for your main dish? Spaghetti or Lasagna?" he asked. "Is both an option?" Ronnie asked. Willy grinned. "You know it is!" he said. Ronnie grinned back. "Then I'll have a little of both," she said. Willy dished her up. After he had dished himself up and sat down, he asked, "So, do you like the theme I chose?" "I think you know the answer to that question!" Ronnie said, her grin widening. "I chose Italian food because, well, you know, we had Italian food for our first two dates," Willy said. "I figured that's why you chose it," Ronnie replied. Then she looked over at her glass, which was filled with a very familiar-looking red juice. "And this juice. This is Wonka's Special Valentine's Punch, isn't it?" she said.

By now, Willy resembled the Cheshire cat. "You bet it is!" he said. Ronnie was almost done with her dinner by this point, and she felt she should say something to Willy about how happy it had made her. "Willy, I want you to know how much this means to me. To be greeted by you after my last day at Slugworth's, and then for you to make me such a nice dinner...I don't really know what to say. 'Thank you' just doesn't seem to be enough," she said. To her surprise, Willy responded by jumping out of his chair. "As you know, Ronnie, Easter is coming up in a few weeks. So naturally Charlie and I have been working on Easter candies lately. One of the new candies we came up with is a hollow chocolate egg that has a little surprise inside. Each egg has something different in it. It could be a candy, a small toy, or something else. Anyway, I want you to be the first to have one," he said. Then he opened up a small container that was on the table, took out an egg-shaped foil-wrapped package, and handed it to Ronnie.

Ronnie eagerly took off the foil wrapping to reveal the most scrumptious-looking chocolate egg she had ever seen. "It looks delicious!" she said. "Go on, try a bite!" Willy said eagerly. Ronnie bit into the egg. Not surprisingly, it was among the most delicious chocolates Ronnie had ever tasted. "It's yummerific!" she exclaimed. Willy giggled happily. "Now that you've bitten a hole in it, why don't you find out what the surprise inside is?" he said.

Ronnie shook the egg, and soon something popped out into her hand. She looked at it, expecting to find a small candy, or maybe a small toy or some costume jewelry. To her surprise, what she found was none of those things. It was a ring, a real ring. And when she looked over at Willy, she discovered that he had gotten down on one knee. Before she had time to digest all of this, Willy spoke. "Ronnie, will you marry me?" he asked. Ronnie felt tears of happiness filling her eyes. "I will," she said softly as she embraced the chocolatier.

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**A/n: **Sorry about the clifhanger. Couldn't resist!

**Chapter 17 Preview: **Willy and Ronnie invite their parents to the factory for Easter, and at Easter dinner reveal their engagement! Also, wedding plans are discussed and the bakery that Willy and Ronnie plan to open gains a new employee!


	18. Chapter 17: Easter Reveal

**Disclaimer: **I don't own a darn thing in this story!

**A/n: **Here's my early Easter present for you, the next chapter of Confusion! In case you're wondering, the mini-line of W's a little ways into the chapter is intentional. I felt a page break was neccesary there, but I couldn't get any other more suitable page breaks (lines, asterisks) to show up, so I had to go with the W's! And as always, please keep those reviews coming! :)

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"At the rate we're going, I wouldn't be surprised if we'll be ready to begin construction on the bakery by mid-summer at the latest!" Mr. Bucket remarked. It was a Thursday afternoon in early April, and another bakery planning session had just come to a close (Mr. Bucket had arranged things so that he was able to get off work at the toothpaste factory early in order to attend the meeting). "Actually, I was thinking late summer would be a good time to begin construction. You know, like early August or something," Willy replied. "Yeah, that would be a much better time," Ronnie agreed.

The Buckets exchanged puzzled glances (naturally, they had been fully expecting Willy and Ronnie to want to begin the construction as soon as possible!). "If you really want to wait until then, that's fine. But what's wrong with June or July?" Mr. Bucket inquired. "Er, well, nothing. It's just that early and mid-summer can be kind of busy and..." Willy started to say. "Besides, do we really want to be doing the construction while it's super-hot out?" Ronnie jumped in.

This didn't make much sense to the Buckets, since if anything, it's usually even warmer in August than it is in June or July! But they could sense that Willy and Ronnie really didn't want to discuss the matter further. So Mrs. Bucket decided to change the subject. "Willy, Ronnie, do you two have any plans for Easter?" she asked. "Not really," admitted Willy. "My mom and I usually..." Ronnie stopped in mid-sentence. She was getting an idea. "What are your plans for Easter?" she asked the Buckets. "Well, I was thinking of making a big, fancy easter dinner this year. It's been awhile since I've gone all-out for Easter dinner, and I thought it would be kind of fun," Mrs. Bucket answered her.

"Would you mind cooking dinner for 11 instead of 9?" Willy asked. Ronnie smiled at him, glad that he had figured out her idea. "No, but who would the other two people be?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "I was thinking of inviting my f-f-f- well, you know, him," said Willy. Needless to say, the Buckets were a bit surprised. Although Willy and his father were on good terms now, it wasn't exactly often that Willy invited his dad to the factory!

"And I was thinking of inviting my mother. I know she doesn't know you guys and you don't know her, but she knows that Willy and I are together. So I thought Easter might be a good time for her to get to know Willy a bit, as well as get to know you guys. Plus, usually it's just she and I for Easter dinner and because of that, we don't have a very fancy meal. I think she'd enjoy having a big, fancy Easter dinner for once," said Ronnie (unlike Willy and his father, Ronnie and her mother were quite close and talked on the phone often, which is how Ronnie's mother knew about her and Willy.).

"Things must be getting pretty darn serious if you want your mother to get to know Willy and us," Mr. Bucket teased. It was all Ronnie could do not to burst out, "They sure are!". Instead, she just said, "I just think it's high time for my mother to be introduced to the factory." Before the Buckets could respond, Willy spoke up. "If it's okay with you guys, I think I'll call my...well, him right now," he said. "And I'll call my mom," Ronnie said. "Go right ahead," said Mrs. Bucket. "Thanks, Mrs. Bucket. We'll come back after we're finished calling and tell you what they said," Ronnie said as she and Willy headed off.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, they returned. One look at their grinning faces was all it took for the Buckets to figure out the verdict. "They said yes, didn't they?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "You bet they did!" Willy exclaimed. "And when my mom heard that there are going to be eleven us here for Easter, she insisted on making a salad and a dessert for the meal," Ronnie added. "That's awfully nice of her," said Mrs. Bucket. "I take it she enjoys cooking," Mr. Bucket chimed in. "She does, especially baking. She even has her own baking business that she runs from her home," said Ronnie.

Willy gazed lovingly at her. "Like mother, like daughter," he said. "Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt where I caught the baking bug," Ronnie commented. Everyone chuckled. "I haven't even met your mother, Ronnie, but I think I'm really going to like having her as...er, as part of our Easter gathering," Willy said, catching himself just in time. "I think so, too," Ronnie said, winking at him to let him know that she knew what he really meant. "I'm looking forward to meeting your mother as well, Ronnie, especially if she's anything like you, which it sounds like she is," said Mrs. Bucket. Ronnie felt her cheeks turn pink "Awww, shucks!" she said.

**WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

After what seemed like an eternity to Willy and Ronnie, Easter finally arrived. They were so excited that getting through breakfast proved to be a bit of a challenge. They both very nearly spilled the beans about the real reason they'd invited their parents to Easter dinner several times, and as if that weren't bad enough, their excitement was also making them a bit absent-minded. Willy almost buttered his egg instead of his roll (since they were having such a big lunch, Mrs. Bucket had made a very simple breakfast of rolls and hard-boiled eggs that she and Charlie had dyed the night before), and Ronnie managed to drop her egg into her glass of orange juice.

"You guys aren't excited or anything, are you?" Mrs. Bucket teased. "How could you tell?" Ronnie joked back. Mrs. Bucket laughed. "Oh, I don't know. Just a feeling I had," she said. "Well, we are, and that's no yolk," Ronnie answered. Everyone groaned at the pun. "So, why don't we go over the plan once more?" Willy suggested (Ronnie knew he wanted to change the subject before one of them had a chance to almost spill the beans again!). "Good idea, Willy," Mrs. Bucket agreed. "So, let me see if I'm remembering correctly...Willy, your father insisted on finding his own way here?" Mr. Bucket inquired. "That's right. I don't know why he wouldn't just let us pick him up!" Willy replied, rolling his eyes.

"At least we know he can be very sneaky when he needs to be!" Ronnie pointed out (she was referring, of course, to when Dr. Wonka had managed to move his entire house without anyone seeing!). Willy couldn't help but smile a bit. "Yeah, he pointed that out to me too, when I reminded him that I'd rather not have anyone see people coming into my factory and get suspicious," he said. "Anyway, he'll be arriving early in the afternoon. We're leaving right after breakfast to pick up my mom, but should be back before Dr. Wonka arrives," Ronnie explained to the Buckets. "Sounds like a plan to me," Mrs. Bucket said.

Not too long after that, breakfast was over and Willy and Ronnie were on their way to Ronnie's mom's. "Well, do you think the Buckets have figured out our secret yet?" Willy asked Ronnie. "I don't think they've quite figured it out, but I do think they've gotten a bit suspicious," she said. "I can't imagine why that would be!" Willy joked. He and Ronnie both laughed. "It will be very interesting to see how they react to the news," Willy said once they'd calmed down. "Not to mention our parents," Ronnie added. "Speaking of whom, here we are," Willy said as the elevator landed.

As the pair headed up the steps to the door, Ronnie noticed that Willy looked very nervous. He was fussing with his hair and clothes, checking his teeth, and fiddling with his gloves. She knew that he was trying to make sure he'd make a good impression on her mom. "Willy, it's all right. Trust me, my mom's not the type of person who expects people to look perfect," she assured him. Willy relaxed, but only slightly. Hoping to take his mind off of things, Ronnie pointed to the brass name plate beside the door. It read "Scrumptious Creations by Sylvia". "That's what my mom calls her baking business," she explained. Willy relaxed a bit more and smiled. "I like that name," he said. Ronnie smiled back as she rang the doorbell.

Moments later, the door opened to reveal a smiling, friendly looking woman. She was a bit on the short side, with brown hair that was graying in several places and the same sparkling, bright blue eyes as her daughter, which were framed by a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. She wore a flour-dusted apron over her clothes and an oven mitt on her hand.

"Happy Easter!" she greeted Willy and Ronnie as she ushered them inside. As soon as they stepped inside, Ronnie's mother dusted as much of the flour off of her apron as possible, stepped forward, and hugged her daughter. "It's so good to see you again, Ronnie," she said. "Happy Easter, mom. It's good to see you too," Ronnie replied happily. Then she turned so she was facing both her mom AND Willy. "Mom, I'd like you to meet Willy Wonka. Willy, this is my mother, Sylvia Wells," she said. Willy extended his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Wells," he said. "Please, call me Sylvia. I've been looking forward to meeting you," Sylvia replied as she shook the chocolatier's hand. "So, are you ready to see the factory?" Willy asked eagerly. Ronnie grinned, glad that Willy wasn't nervous anymore. "I sure am! Just let me grab my stuff and we can be on our way," said Sylvia.

Once Sylvia had her things, the trio headed for the elevator. Sylvia, who, of course, wasn't expecting the journey to the factory to be via elevator, looked around in confusion. "Where's your car? I'm not seeing it anywhere," she asked. "We didn't bring a car," Willy said. Now Sylvia looked more confused than ever. "Willy, your factory is about an hour away from here. There's no way you two could have walked all this way," she said. It was all Ronnie could do not to giggle. "Mom, of course we didn't walk! We use a different form of trans-" she began, only to be stopped by she and Willy running straight into the side of the elevator. Willy turned crimson. "I really need to be more careful where I park this thing!" he said as he got to his feet and then helped Ronnie up.

Now it was Sylvia's turn to stifle a giggle. "What exactly is this thing?" she asked as they stepped inside the elevator. "It's the great glass elevator!" Willy explained proudly. "An elevator? But elevators can't..." she started to say. Ronnie grinned. "Ordinary elevators can't, but this is no ordinary elevator!" she explained. "Okay, everyone prepare for take-off!" Willy announced. Ronnie and Sylvia set the dishes of food (the salad and dessert Sylvia had made for the dinner) they had been holding on the floor. Then Ronnie put a special "cargo strap" (that Willy had invented for cases like these, when objects needed to be carried in the elevator) around them to stop them from sliding about. "Okay, we're ready," Ronnie said. "Then off we go!" Willy said as he pushed the button to start the elevator.

"Isn't this a great view, mom? It's always my favorite part of traveling by elevator," Ronnie commented once they were in the air. "Yeah, it's not every day one gets to travel via glass elevator!" Willy added happily. Sylvia, however, did not respond, and when Ronnie looked over at her to see why, she was alarmed to discover that her mom's face had taken on a greenish tone, and that she was holding her stomach. "Mom, are you all right?" Ronnie asked. Sylvia shook her head (she was afraid that if she opened her mouth, Willy and Ronnie might very well end up seeing what she'd had for breakfast!).

That's when Ronnie realized that her suspicions had been correct. The elevator was making her poor mom motion sick. "Mom, why don't you sit down and close your eyes," she suggested. Sylvia was more than happy to oblige. After quickly explaining things to Willy, Ronnie sat down next to her mom. She figured that the best thing to do right then would probably be to distract her. So she started talking about the bakery project (being careful not to mention anything about the actual food they were going to sell there, since she knew that food was the last thing her mom needed to hear about right then!).

After talking about where they were in the process and what their latest plans were, she said, "We've been meaning to ask you if you have any ideas for the bakery. Since you've been in the baking business for several years, we figure that you might have some good advice. We'd love your help." Sylvia (who, thankfully, had recovered a bit by this time) smiled. "I'd love to help you with the bakery. In fact, lately I've been considering opening my own bakery and moving my business there, since it has grown quite a bit in the last few years," she said.

At that moment, a light bulb clicked on in Ronnie's mind. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of this idea sooner. "Mom, why don't you just merge your business with our bakery? You could help run the bakery AND you could still run your business, because we could sell your stuff there along with our stuff. And we aren't even starting construction on the bakery until around August, so you'll have plenty of time to tell your customers about the change," she suggested. "Hey, yeah! That would be great!" Willy agreed.

Then something else occurred to Ronnie. "Mom, how would you feel about moving?" she asked. To her surprise, Sylvia didn't seem at all annoyed or taken aback by the question. "Actually, now that you mention it, I have been thinking about it a little. I like my place, but it's a little big for just one person," she said. "Well then, you know how I told you that my apartment is above Willy's original candy shop, which is where the bakery is going to be?" Ronnie asked. Sylvia nodded.

"The thing is, I've been thinking about moving myself. I'll stay in the same town, but I thought, you know, maybe it's time for a change of pace. So that means my apartment would be empty. You could live there," Ronnie explained. "If you're sure you want to move, that would work out quite well," Sylvia said. "I'm sure, mom," Ronnie assured her mother. Willy grinned. "That will also mean, Sylvia, that you won't have much of a commute to work once the bakery opens," he said. They all chuckled. "Well, I guess we're going to have quite the news to tell everyone at dinner!" Sylvia said.

At that moment, they arrived back at the factory. "Well, I guess I said the magic word!" Sylvia remarked. They all chuckled. "You did indeed, mom," Ronnie replied. "Welcome to my factory, Sylvia. This is the Wintergreen Room," Willy said. Sylvia glanced around in awe. "I've never seen anything like this before. It's amazing!" she said. Willy grinned. "I'm glad you like it," he said. "Hello! Dinner's just about ready!" a cheerful female voice called suddenly. "We'll be right there!" Willy called back. Noticing Sylvia's confused expression, Ronnie quickly explained, "The others are waiting for us in the Wintergreen Forest." "Well then, lead the way," Sylvia said with a smile.

Within seconds, they were in the middle of the Wintergreen Forest. The first thing Sylvia noticed was that it was even more beautiful than the rest of the Wintergreen Room. The second thing she noticed was that a large table was set up there, and that several people were sitting at it. "Is this where we're eating?" she asked. "You guessed it!" Ronnie said eagerly (there was no way that they were going to be able to fit 11 people around the Buckets' small table, so they had decided early on that dinner would be in the Wintergreen Room since it was one of Willy's and Ronnie's favorite places.).

Before she, her mom, or Willy could say anything more, an older, tall, balding man stood up from his chair and walked over to Willy. "Happy Easter, Willy," he said. "Happy Easter, dad," Willy responded. Now that he had greeted Willy, Dr. Wonka looked over at Ronnie. "And this must be Miss Veronica Wells," he said. "Yes, but please, call me Ronnie," Ronnie said as she extended her hand. Dr. Wonka shook it. "The last time I saw you, you were only 10 years old! And now here you are, all grown up. A pleasure to see you again," he said.

Ronnie felt her cheeks turn pink. "A pleasure to see you again, too. I hope you haven't been waiting for us for too long," she said. "Don't worry, I got here just before you did," Dr. Wonka assured her. Then Sylvia walked over to Dr. Wonka. "Hello, Wilbur. It's good to see you again," she said. "Sylvia! It's good to see you again, too," said Dr. Wonka. Needless to say, Ronnie was a bit surprised. Since when were her mother and Dr. Wonka on a first-name basis with each other? Realizing that the Buckets were probably eager to start eating, and that they hadn't yet been introduced to her mother, she shrugged it off.

Once the rest of the introductions were finished, Willy, Ronnie, Sylvia, and Dr. Wonka sat down at the table and dinner began. "Willy, Ronnie, and I have some news for you," Sylvia told the Buckets. "We're all ears!" Mr. Bucket said. "First of all, has Ronnie told you about my baking business?" Sylvia asked. The Buckets nodded. "Well, on the way over here, Ronnie, Willy, and I were talking about the bakery they're going to open, and we decided that I'm going to help them run it. The bakery will sell my stuff as well, so it'll work out well for all of us. I can help run the bakery without having to let my customers down, and my business has been going so well that I've been thinking about moving it to a bakery anyway," she said. "What a terrific idea!" Mrs. Bucket exclaimed. "Yeah, we're glad you want to help," Charlie added. "I wish you the best of luck, Sylvia," Dr. Wonka spoke up. "Thank you," said Sylvia.

While Sylvia was speaking to Dr. Wonka, Mr. Bucket couldn't help but notice that Willy and Ronnie were grinning like cheshire cats. "There's more, isn't there?" he asked. "You bet there is! You see, obviously it would be a lot more convenient for my mom if, once the bakery opens, she lived close by. She's been thinking about moving into a smaller place anyway, so we decided that she will move into my apartment. Can't get much closer to the bakery than that!" said Ronnie. "That's a very clever idea, Ronnie, but where will you live then?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "Well, Ronnie was just planning on moving anyway..." Willy began. "Because Willy and I are getting married!" Ronnie announced happily, holding up her hand so they could see her ring.

For a few moments, nobody spoke. Ronnie looked around the table, trying to get a sense of how everyone felt about the announcement, but all she could tell was that her mom, Dr. Wonka, and the Buckets were all a bit surprised. "Come on! Somebody say or do something to let Willy and I know what you think about all this!" she thought. As if she had read her daughter's mind, Sylvia broke into a big grin. "So that's why you wanted us all together for Easter dinner, and why you wanted to move all of a sudden. I'm really happy for you both," she said.

"I don't know why I'm so surprised. I mean, I guess I should have seen it coming, but I am just the same. I'm glad you finally found someone special, Willy," Grandpa Joe spoke up. "I don't know why you're so surprised, Joe. It's about time Willy found someone to settle down with!" Grandpa George put in. Mrs. Bucket looked horrified. "Dad, enough!" she hissed. Then she turned to Willy and Ronnie. "Don't mind him. Congratulations to you both, and I wish you a very happy life together," she told them. "Everyone else has pretty much said it all. I hope that the two of you will be as happy together as Nora and I are," Mr. Bucket chimed in. "Awww, James!" Mrs. Bucket cooed, leaning over to give her husband a kiss. "Gross! You guys are making me lose my appetite!" Charlie exclaimed.

It was all the adults could do to keep from laughing. But then Charlie quickly recovered and said, "I'm very excited and happy for you, Willy and Ronnie...even if you two getting married does mean more kisses I'll have to endure!" This time the adults did laugh, but softly and gently. Charlie laughed, too. And then something happened that took Willy completely by surprise. "Willy, it has been my greatest hope that you would find someone special to share you life with, and now you have. I'm very happy for you, son, and I hope..." Dr. Wonka started to say. "You hope what, dad?" Willy asked, feeling happy and surprised at the same time (he had expected his dad's reaction the engagement to be similar to Grandpa George's, rather than congratulatory!). "I hope that married life brings you two the greatest of all happinesses," said Dr. Wonka. Willy had a strong hunch that wasn't what Dr. Wonka was orginally going to say, but he decided not to press the issue. "Thank you all for the congratulations," said Ronnie. "Our pleasure. Now then, I'm sure you'll want to get planning the wedding...and we're more than happy to help," said Mrs. Bucket with a twinkle in her eye.

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**A/n: **I know I said in the chapter preview for this chapter that part of this chapter would be about the plans for Willy and Ronnie's wedding being discussed. However, at the time I had no idea that this chapter would turn out as long as it did. So I decided that the wedding planning would fit better in the next chapter.

**Chapter 18 Preview: **Willy and Ronnie, along with their parents and the Buckets, begin planning their wedding. Also, we find out a little bit more about why Dr. Wonka and Sylvia are so friendly with each other.


	19. Chapter 18: Plans and Revealations

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill! Nothing in this story is mine!

**A/n: **I got exactly zero reviews for the last chapter. I know you guys can do better! I love getting reviews (constructive reviews, of course!), and they really help inspire me to right more. I like knowing that it's worthwhile for me to be writing this, and I enjoy writing it even more if I know that you, my readers, are enjoying reading it! Now, with that being said, I hope you like this chapter. It may seem a little long at the beginning, but hang in there, I promise it gets a bit better towards the end!

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With the announcement of Willy and Ronnie's engagement made, the conversation quickly turned to the wedding (and the food went pretty much ignored, since everyone was too excited to eat!). Willy and Ronnie, of course, were thrilled that the Buckets wanted to help them plan their wedding. They had hoped that would be the case. "So, I know I probably should just mind my own business and not pressure you two, but when is the wedding going to be?" Sylvia inquired. "It's all right, mom. I'm glad you're so eager," Ronnie assured her. "Yeah. Now, to answer your question, Sylvia, we're planning for the wedding to be in July," Willy spoke up. "So that's why you two insisted we wait until August to begin construction on the bakery!" Mrs. Bucket said with a grin. "Yeah, that would be why," Ronnie replied, grinning back.

"You two do realize that July is only three months away. That's not a lot of time to plan a wedding, you know. If you ask me, having the wedding so soon is a very foolish idea. Why in my day..." Grandpa George ranted. Mrs. Bucket, needless to say, was not pleased with her father! But before she could even open her mouth, Dr. Wonka spoke up. "True, getting married three months after getting engaged isn't exactly traditional. But what's wrong with being a little different?" he said (as you might guess, Willy was a bit surprised to hear those words coming from his father's mouth!). "Wilbur is right. If we were all traditional all the time, the world would be a very boring place," Sylvia agreed.

"Well, I never!" grumped Grandpa George. Everyone tactfully ignored him. "Grandpa George is right about one thing. We really don't have that much time to plan the wedding," said Ronnie. "So we'd better get started!" Willy added. Ronnie grinned at him. "Indeed we'd better. So, let's see. We've got the month. Now we need to decide the actual day, the time, and who's going to conduct the service. Not to mention the attendants, food, flowers..." by the time Ronnie cut herself off, she was no longer grinning. In fact, she was looking quite frantic. "Don't worry, Ronnie, we can-" Sylvia tried to reassure her daughter.

But Ronnie interrupted her, exclaiming, "Oh my gosh, I'll need to look for a dress, too! Plus I need to decide how I want to do my hair and all that, and what the attendants should wear. And we need to plan things like what hymns we want sung, what scriptures we want...and all in three months! I know we decided July was when we wanted to do this, and I DO want to get married in July...but, oh, are we insane to think we can plan this thing in only three months?" Feeling completely overwhelmed by this point, Ronnie burst into tears.

Willy (who was, of course, sitting next Ronnie) reached out and put his arms around his fiancée. "Take it easy, starshine. It's going to be 'kay. Three months may not be a lot of time, but we're not going to let that stop us!" he soothed her. "Willy's right, Ronnie, and don't forget, you aren't in this alone. We're all more than willing to help you in any way we possibly can," Sylvia added. Everyone else nodded in agreement. "And so what if we are a little insane to be putting together a wedding in just three months? If we were perfectly sane all the time, that just wouldn't be any fun at all," said Willy. Ronnie couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, you guys. I feel a lot better now," she said.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now, as far as planning the wedding goes, I think the easiest way to do it is to just take one thing at a time," said Mrs. Bucket. "I agree. First off, I'm assuming you guys intend to have the wedding here at the factory," Sylvia said. Willy and Ronnie nodded. "That is indeed what we're planning," Ronnie said. "So, since booking a church or other venue for the wedding isn't an issue, I suggest we not worry about setting an exact date and time right now. I think knowing the wedding will be sometime in July is good enough for now," Sylvia suggested.

Ronnie had to admit that her mom had a point. "Good idea, mom," she said. "All right, then. Now that we've got that out of the way, I'd say we can finally get down to planning," Sylvia said with a grin. Ronnie grinned back. "I'd say we can indeed," she said. "So, what part of the planning would you like to tackle first?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "Maybe the food for the reception. That's the one part I'm still a little worried about. Not only is the wedding only three months away, but June and July are both two of the most popular months for weddings. So our odds of finding a caterer that isn't already booked solid with orders are not good. Not to mention the fact that it would be hard to enlist a caterer without arousing the media's suspicions," Ronnie said.

To her great surprise, Willy responded by breaking out into a big grin, clapping his hands, and giggling with delight. "We don't need a caterer," he said. "Willy, if we don't have a caterer prepare our meal, who will?" Ronnie asked. "The Oompa Loompa women can cook the dinner for us," Willy replied. "I don't want to ask such a big favor of them. I'd feel like I was taking advantage of them," Ronnie said. "Don't worry, they'll be more than thrilled to do it. They love to cook. Really, I think they'd live in the kitchen if they could!" Willy assured her.

Ronnie laughed. "Well, that makes me feel better. It would still be asking a lot of them, though. After all, they may love to cook, but these would much bigger portions than they're used to making," said said. Now it was Willy's turn to chuckle. "Don't let their size fool you! They may be tiny, but they love to eat, and they make large portions of food regularly," he said.

"So at least we've got that settled," Ronnie commented once she had recovered from laughing at the image of the Oompa Loompas eating like pigs. "Yeah. Now, how 'bout location? I agree that setting an exact date for the wedding isn't necessary right now, but we should probably at least decide where in the factory we want the wedding to be," Willy replied. "How about the Chocolate Room? It's beautiful, and its size means that we can easily have both the wedding and the reception there," Ronnie suggested. Willy broke out into a huge grin. "Hey, yeah! You had the same thought about the location of the wedding that I did!" he exclaimed happily.

"That was easy enough!" Ronnie said, wearing a grin to match Willy's. "Okay, what next?" Willy asked eagerly. "I guess the next thing to plan would be our attendants," Ronnie said. Willy nodded his agreement. "And I know exactly who I want my Best Man to be!" he said. "Who?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "Well, a Best Man should be someone that you are very trusting of, and usually it's someone who's a very good friend, right?" Willy inquired. Everyone nodded. Then Willy turned to Charlie. "Charlie, will you please be my Best Man?" he asked. Charlie thought he might faint from happiness. "Really? You really want ME to be your Best Man?" he asked. "'Course I do! No one is better suited for the job than you," Willy told him. "Thank you, Willy. I'm very honored," Charlie said happily.

Willy then turned his attention to Ronnie. "And what about you? Do you have your Maid of Honor picked out?" he asked her. "You bet I do! And actually, it's a Matron of Honor that I've chosen," Ronnie said. "A friend of yours, I suppose," Mrs. Bucket said. "Yes, she is indeed a friend of mine. A very good friend of mine," Ronnie replied. "What's her name?" Mrs. Bucket asked, extremely curious now. Ronnie smiled. "Nora," she answered. "Talk about interesting coincidences! She has the same name as..." Mrs. Bucket stopped in mid-sentence as she finally realized the significance of Ronnie's words.

"You mean me, don't you?" she inquired. Ronnie's smile grew even bigger. "Well, you're the only Nora that I know," she answered. Then she quickly added, "I hope it's all right if I call you Nora." "I would be very honored to be your Matron of Honor, Ronnie, and I'm glad you consider me such a good friend. And of course it's all right if you call me Nora. I'm flattered that you feel comfortable enough to do so," Mrs. Bucket said.

Ronnie grinned at her in response, then flipped back into planning mode. "Now that we've got our Best Man and Matron of honor, the trickier part of planning the attendants begins. Neither Willy nor I know any young kids who could be Ring Bearer or Flower Girl. I also think the Oompa Loompas should be involved in the wedding somehow, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that," she said. Willy clapped his hands with delight. "That's not tricky at all! The Oompa Loompa chief and his wife can be Ring Bearer and Flower Girl...'course we'll actually call her a Flower Lady," he said.

Ronnie wasn't sure what to think. "That's an interesting idea, Willy, but the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer roles are meant for young kids. Wouldn't it be kind of insulting to the chief and his wife to ask them to perform tasks meant for kids?" she pointed out. "Don't worry, they won't be insulted at all! They'll be happy to be part of the wedding, and besides, the Oompa Loompas are pretty much kids at heart," Willy replied.

"All right, then. Let's ask them!" Ronnie said happily. Sylvia looked lovingly at her daughter. She was glad that Ronnie was obviously feeling a lot calmer about the planning process. "I told you we could do this," she said. "And you were right, as usual," Ronnie said, the corners of her lips turning upwards in a smile. "Of course. Aren't mothers always right?" Sylvia teased. Ronnie laughed. "Mom, you are too much!" she chuckled.

"You know, while we're on the subject of attendants, there's a similar subject we haven't discussed yet," Mr. Bucket spoke up. "And what would that be?" Ronnie asked. "Well, traditionally, the bride is walked down the aisle by her..." Mr. Bucket stopped in mid-sentence, horrified at how thoughtless he was being. There had to be a reason why Ronnie had never spoken of her father, as well as why he wasn't present for the engagement announcement and wedding planning (Mr. Bucket had, of course, been about to say that a bride is usually walked down the aisle by her father). And if Ronnie didn't want to talk about that issue, it certainly wasn't right for Mr. Bucket to do so!

Frantically, he tried to figure out a way to take back what he had said. But before he could, Ronnie spoke up. "By her father," she finished his earlier sentence. "Well, yes. But I had no right to bring that up. You've never spoken of your father, so I should have respected your wishes to keep quiet about that subject," Mr. Bucket apologized. "It's okay, Mr. Bucket. You were just trying to help. And you're right, I don't usually talk about my father. But I think you have a right to know the reason why," Ronnie said. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Mr. Bucket assured her. "Really, it's all right. You deserve an explanation. I don't speak about my father because I never knew him. He died before I was born," Ronnie said softly.

A stunned silence fell over the table. Nobody knew quite what to say. The Buckets felt a mixture of shock and sadness for Ronnie and Sylvia. Although it had been quite obvious to all of them that Mr. Wells wasn't in the picture, none of them had ever guessed that it was because he was dead, let alone that he had died before Ronnie was even born! They had figured that either Ronnie's parents were either divorced and her father had nothing to do with her, or that Ronnie's parents never were married to begin with and her father had removed himself from the picture after learning of Sylvia's pregnancy (the possibility of Sylvia having chosen to be a single mother had also crossed their minds, along with a few other, darker possibilities that they preferred not to think about).

For his part, Willy felt sadness, but not so much shock. In fact, what he felt in addition to the shock was a feeling of realization. You see, Ronnie's words had triggered a memory...

_It was a Saturday afternoon, and young Willy Wonka as playing at the neighborhood park. It was one of the only places that his father allowed him to go alone, mostly because there was no danger of him getting hold of candy there. Other kids sometimes brought candy, but Dr. Wonka knew that Willy was too shy a boy to ask if he could have some._

_On this particular day, the park was fairly quiet. There were only a few other kids there...one of whom was Ronnie Wells. She was sitting on a bench, writing in a notebook. Willy, meanwhile, was on the swings. He watched as Ronnie wrote intently, seemingly unaware that anyone else was in the park with her. _

_A few minutes later, Ronnie set her notebook down and headed for the drinking fountain. To Willy's horror, as Ronnie was getting her drink, Terrance walked over to the bench where she had been sitting and picked up the notebook she had been writing in. Then he slowly and sneakily walked back to his group of friends, all of whom were just as "friendly" as he was, with it. "Guys, look what I've got!" he said with a sneer, making sure to keep his voice low. "Awww, isn't that cute? A journal all filled with girly thoughts!" one of Terrance's friends replied in a sarcastic tone._

"_Well, go on, Terrance, read us a few pages!" another friend said. Unlike the other two, however, he forgot to to keep his voice low, and Ronnie overheard. She turned abruptly from the drinking fountain and stormed over to them, anger written all over her face. "Terrance, you give that back!" she shouted. Terrance ignored her. "The park is one of my favorite places. I love to sit and smell the flowers while I draw or write. And nothing could be better than the breeze in my hair," he quoted from Ronnie's journal in a sing-song voice. "Terrance, I mean it! Give it back!" Ronnie yelled, grabbing for the journal._

_Terrance just laughed and pulled it out of her reach. "Make me!" he taunted. Ronnie grabbed for the notebook a second time, but once again, Terrance held it out of her reach. Willy couldn't take this anymore. He may have been shy, but he couldn't let this continue. He jumped out of the swing. "Terrance, that's not yours! You need to give it back to Ronnie," he said, struggling to keep his voice even. "You stay out of this, metal head!" Terrance snapped. Seeing her chance, Ronnie grabbed for the notebook yet again. But for the third time, Terrance held it out of her reach. _

"_Terrance, you give that back right now!" she shouted. "Or what?" Terrance taunted. "Are you going to have your daddy come and sort things out?" one of Terrance's friends jeered. "Don't you remember? She doesn't have a daddy! He died before she was even born! So it's just her and her mommy!" another one said in a very sarcastic tone. Ronnie looked as though she had just been punched in the gut, and tears sparkled in her eyes. "Crybaby, crybaby, better dry your eyes baby!" Terrance chanted. With that, Ronnie turned on her heels and walked away from the park._

_Willy was furious and sad all at the same time. He had known that Ronnie didn't have a father, but he didn't know that was because her father had died. And before she was even born, so Ronnie had never even known him! He knew just how she felt, because he had never known his mother. The thought that Terrance had just teased Ronnie so cruelly made him feel sick. Clutching his stomach, he ran into the men's restroom. Luckily, after sitting in there for a few minutes, the feelings of sickness left him._

_When he emerged from the restroom, he noticed that Terrance and his friends were gone. He also noticed that Ronnie's journal was laying on the ground, a dirty shoe mark on its cover. He knew that Terrance had thrown it on the ground and then stomped on it. The thought almost made him have to return to the restroom, but he took a deep breath and let the feeling pass. Then he picked up the notebook and headed home._

_Once he was back in his room, Willy cleaned off the cover of Ronnie's journal as best he could. Then, on inspiration, he drew a picture of a chocolate factory on the cover to hide the dirt he hadn't been able to remove. Next he tore a page out of his own notebooks and wrote a quick note to Ronnie (he didn't sign it, knowing that Ronnie would know who it was from.). After placing the page into the journal, he picked up a small, wooden box that sat on his desk. _

_It had a lock on it, and inside were his most precious things. He called it his Treasure Box, and he had it himself. He lifted his stuff out of the box and then set Ronnie's journal inside it. After closing the lid and locking the box, he carefully taped the key to the lid, then selected some markers (permanent ones that he had taken from his father's office when he wasn't looking.) and used them to draw a picture of Ronnie on the lid. Beside the picture he wrote in his best handwriting "Ronnie's Treasure Box". "Now Ronnie will finally have a safe place for her journal, one where Terrance can't get it!" he thought._

_The next morning, he headed over to Ronnie's house and left the box on her doorstep. He rang the doorbell, then ran back across the street to his house. He got inside just in time to see Ronnie open the door, look around, spot the box, and take it inside, looking very happy as she did..._

Willy was jolted out of his flashback when Mrs. Bucket broke the silence at the table. "I'm sorry about your father, Ronnie. We had no idea," she said (she and the rest of the Buckets had noticed that Willy had "blanked out" for a couple minutes, but by now they recognized that look as his "flashback" look and left it to Willy to talk about it if he wanted to.). "And believe me, if we HAD had any idea, I never would have opened my big mouth," Mr. Bucket added. "Please, don't beat yourself up about it. I'm not upset about it or anything. After all, you had no way of knowing," Ronnie assured him.

Then Sylvia spoke up. "It's probably mostly my fault that Ronnie doesn't talk about her father much. I've never spoken much about him to her, either," she said. "Don't worry about it, mom. I'm sure it's hard for you talk about him. It must have been awful for you when he died," Ronnie said. "It was hard indeed. But luckily, I had a good friend to help me through it, which made it a bit easier than it otherwise probably would have been," Sylvia said, smiling at Dr. Wonka. Nothing could have prepared the Buckets for the dentist's response.

"We helped each other, really. You see, not more than a few months after Sylvia's loss, my Mina passed on," Dr. Wonka explained, his voice carrying more than a hint of sadness. Mrs. Bucket knew immediately that this Mina that Dr. Wonka was speaking about had to be Willy's mother. She also knew that Willy and Ronnie were the same age, and Ronnie had said that her father had died while her mother was still pregnant. "So if Willy's mom died a few months after that, that means it couldn't have happened all that long after Willy was born. Talk about a bittersweet situation for Dr. Wonka!" she thought.

Once again, she found herself unsure of exactly what to say. She wanted to tell Dr. Wonka that she was sorry about what had happened, and that it must have been hard for him to lose his wife so soon after the birth of their son. She was afraid that might make Willy feel bad, though, not to mention the fact that she had no idea how much Dr. Wonka had told him about his mother and her death.

Finally she settled for saying, "I'll bet she was a lovely person, if her name is any indication. Mina is such a beautiful name." Dr. Wonka smiled sadly at her. "She was a lovely person. Her name was actually Wilhelmina, which is beautiful, just like she was. She was a lot like Willy and..." he trailed off. Then he shook his head and said, "How did we manage to get on such a sad subject anyway!"

Mrs. Bucket knew that was Dr. Wonka's way of saying that talking further about his wife was too painful for him and he wanted to change the subject. So she obliged him. "Dr. Wonka's right. This is supposed to be a happy time, after all! So let's go back to planning the wedding. Ronnie, I don't believe we've discussed your dress yet," she said.

To Mrs. Bucket's (and Dr. Wonka's!) relief, everyone took the hint. "You're right, Mrs. Bucket. I don't even know where to begin looking yet. I mean, I'm not even sure exactly what I want my dress to be like! Not to mention that I can't exactly go looking around for a wedding dress without people getting suspicious. I mean, they probably wouldn't guess that I'm marrying Willy Wonka, but still, the less they know, the better," Ronnie said. Sylvia looked over at her daughter, her blue eyes twinkling.

"I think I have a solution to that problem," she said. "You do? What?" Ronnie asked. "Well, Mrs. Bucket obviously needs to look for a dress, too, and I should probably also look for one. After all, I want to look my best for my daughter's wedding, and I'm way past due for some new dress clothes. So, why don't we all go shopping together sometime at the mall near my place? We could also stop at a few florist's and look at flowers while we're at it," Sylvia suggested.

"That's a great idea, Sylvia! And please, call me Nora," Mrs. Bucket said. Ronnie turned to her mother, beaming. "Mom, you're a genius! I love that idea!" she said. "I thought you might," Sylvia replied. "Believe it or not, I think we've pretty much got all the planning done that we need to for now," Ronnie said, still grinning away. In response, Mrs. Bucket held up her glass of wine. "Here's to a planning session gone extremely well!" she said. The rest of the adults picked up their wine glasses, Charlie picked up his glass of grape juice, and they all clinked them together. "To a good planning session!" they cheered.

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**A/n: **I hope that things didn't get TOO heavy at the end there! I had been planning to talk about the issue of Willy's mother and Ronnie's father for awhile now, but it just didn't feel right until this chapter. As for whether I plan to talk about them further...All I'm going to say is not in THIS particular story (at least not in any detail. I may mention them again once or twice, but I won't be saying anything further about what they were like or how they died or anything.). But you never know what might come down the line! ;) And in more exciting news, I am pleased to let you know that you won't have to wait much longer for the wedding, as it will be in Chapter 20 (which I plan as the last chapter of the story)!

**Chapter 19 Preview: **Ronnie, Mrs. Bucket, and Sylvia have a girls' day out, during which they have a few rather funny moments, and Sylvia manages to stick her foot in her mouth! We also finally get our answer to the question of who's going to walk Ronnie down the aisle!


	20. Chapter 19: Girls' Day Out

**Disclaimer: **Nothing in this story belongs to me!

**A/n: **A HUGE thanks to my one reviewer for the last chapter! I know I've said this before, but I love reviews and they inspire me to keep writing. They also help let me know if all this writing I'm doing is worthwhile. So please keep 'em coming!

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"I should have known this wasn't going to be easy!" Mrs. Bucket thought as she sleepily rubbed her eyes and stepped out into the darkened Chocolate Room. It was a few weeks after the wedding planning session, and she, Ronnie and Sylvia were about to go on their shopping excursion. However, things had not gone entirely as planned. The original plan (which the three women had made right after the wedding planning session) had been for Ronnie and Mrs. Bucket to drive to Sylvia's house in Ronnie's car. After they picked up Sylvia, they would head out to the mall.

But then, just a few days before the date of the shopping trip, Ronnie's car broke down. So it was in the shop, and Ronnie and Mrs. Bucket were faced with quite a dilemma. Since it was nearly June, just a month before the wedding, they didn't want to postpone the shopping trip. The Buckets didn't own a car, though, and neither did Willy. Eventually, they decided that their only option would be to take the glass elevator. That presented another problem, though. If people saw a strange, flying contraption leaving Willy's factory, they would obviously have questions. And the fact that the chocolatier wouldn't be in it would just make it look even more suspicious.

In order to solve that problem, they had decided that they would leave Willy's factory in the early morning pre-dawn hours. Getting up at five in the morning wasn't exactly their idea of fun, but they had no other option. To avoid having to get up even earlier, Ronnie had slept over at the factory the night before. Mrs. Bucket figured she'd be arriving in the Chocolate Room at any minute. "No reason I can't make myself comfy while I wait," Mrs. Bucket thought.

She had just sat down on the swudge grass meadow when she was startled by what sounded like a soft moan. She quickly got up and started walking in the direction the moan had come from. She hadn't taken more than two steps when she heard more sounds. "Willy...chocholisius...amazing...feels good..." a voice mumbled. But not just any voice. "That sounds like Ronnie!" Mrs. Bucket thought as she quickened her pace.

Moments later, her suspicions were confirmed. There, curled up beside the Chocolate River, was Ronnie. She was sound asleep, and she was clutching a large lollipop in her arms. "Willy...keep doing...feels...so good." she mumbled. It was all Mrs. Bucket could do not to burst out laughing. Obviously Ronnie was dreaming, and her dreaming mind was clearly mistaking the lollipop she was holding with the man who made it!

Mrs. Bucket hated to wake Ronnie, but she knew it had to be done. She put her hand on the woman's shoulder and began to gently shake her. "Ronnie? Ronnie, it's time to wake up," she said gently. Ronnie reached up and stroked her face. "Oh...Willy..." she mumbled. "Ronnie, dear, you need to wake up," Mrs. Bucket said, a bit louder this time. Ronnie still didn't wake up, though. Instead, she stroked Mrs. Bucket's face some more and puckered up her lips as though in preparation for a kiss. Mrs. Bucket sighed. Obviously Ronnie was a very deep sleeper, and waking her was going to require a bit more effort. She shook Ronnie a bit more forcefully. "Ronnie, it's time to get going," she said as loudly as she dared.

Ronnie woke with a start. "AAUGH!" she shouted as her body jumped with surprise (making Mrs. Bucket very thankful that she hadn't fallen asleep any closer to the Chocolate River than she had!). "Sorry about that, Ronnie, but it was the only way to wake you up," Mrs. Bucket apologized. "It's all right, Mrs. Bucket. I woke up around four-thirty, so I decided to get dressed and come down here. I guess I must have fallen back asleep," she said.

"It looks like you were intending to have a bit of a snack, too," Mrs. Bucket said with a smile as she indicated the lollipop (she decided not to mention Ronnie's dream, since she knew Ronnie would be mortified if she knew what she had heard!). Ronnie grinned. "Yeah, I love the stuff in here. Willy told me to feel free to eat whatever I want in here...except him, of course!"

Mrs. Bucket laughed. "Because that would be called cannibalism, and that is in fact frowned upon in most societies," she said in a perfect imitation of Willy. "You've got him down perfectly!" Ronnie chuckled. "You're really weird!" Mrs. Bucket replied, imitating the chocolatier yet again. "We're probably lucky he can't hear us," Ronnie hooted as she pressed the button for the elevator. Then she remembered that it was only five in the morning and that everyone else in the factory was probably trying to sleep. "Speaking of hearing, though, we should probably quiet down a bit before we wake the entire factory," she said.

Mrs. Bucket nodded, but her mind wasn't really on what Ronnie had just said. Rather, her mind was on the elevator ride they were about to take. It wasn't her favorite mode of transportation, and while she had been on a few in-factory rides on it, she had never been on an out-of-the-factory ride on it. Knowing that this was going to be Ronnie's first time operating the contraption didn't exactly do much to calm her nerves, either.

"It's all right, Nora. I'm a little nervous, too. I feel a bit like a 16-year-old who's about to take her driving test. Willy gave me a quick lesson in how to drive this thing, of course, but driving it under his supervision and driving it alone are two completely different things," Ronnie said, noticing her companion's nervousness. "I'm sure you'll do fine, Ronnie," Mrs. Bucket said. "Thanks, Mrs. Bucket. I appreciate it," Ronnie said as she pressed the "Up and Out" button.

As the elevator rocketed upward, Ronnie and Mrs. Bucket looked at each other in anticipation. "We need to relax a little. This is going to be fun!" Ronnie said. Mrs. Bucket nodded absently. "I'll have fun just as soon as this contraption has landed safely," she thought. At that moment, Ronnie reached over and pressed another button in the elevator, and a panel in the roof above them opened up (it was a new system that Willy had come up with, since it didn't really make sense for the Oompa Loompas to have to repair the roof all the time!).

"I'm glad that at least the elevator doesn't have to crash through the roof anymore to get out of the factory. That part always scared me, and was one of the reasons I refused to go any rides out of the factory in this thing," Mrs. Bucket commented. "To be honest, I don't mind not having to crash through the roof, either. I'm glad Willy came up with this new system," Ronnie said.

Once the elevator was safely out of the factory, Ronnie hit the button to close the roof panel, followed by the buttons to turn on the "hover rockets" (as she called them). "You know, this isn't so bad," Mrs. Bucket said. Ronnie looked at her friend, knowing that she wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "I hate to tell you this, Nora, but that was the easy part," she said. Mrs. Bucket gulped. "I knew there was a catch," she groaned.

"Don't worry, Nora. Willy wouldn't have let me take the elevator if he had even the slightest worry that I'd crash it," Ronnie assured her. Then she turned her attention the the walls of buttons. "Now, let's see, the directional buttons are..." she muttered to herself. When she was sure she remembered which button did what, she started pressing them. Unfortunately, she had forgotten an important detail: that speed was controlled by how firmly you pressed the buttons.

Since Ronnie had pressed rather firmly on the buttons, the elevator accelerated rapidly. Soon everything below was almost a blur. Ronnie quickly pressed the buttons lightly to slow the elevator down. Then she looked over at Mrs. Bucket. Just as she had feared, her poor friend was barely managing to stay on her feet. She was also clutching her stomach, her face had a greenish tinge to it, and she had her eyes squeezed tightly closed. "I'm really sorry about that, Nora. I'd forgotten that pressing the buttons hard makes this thing go fast," Ronnie apologized.

All Mrs. Bucket could do was nod. She felt as if her stomach had jumped into her throat, and she knew that Willy would not be happy with her if she got sick all over his elevator! Luckily for her, the elevator slowed down rather quickly. The rest of the ride was a little bit better, as Ronnie gradually figured out the correct pressure to apply to the buttons for a normal speed. Even so, Mrs. Bucket still felt rather queasy by the time they arrived at Sylvia's!

Ronnie felt awful about what the elevator ride had done to Mrs. Bucket. "I probably should have asked Willy to give me a longer lesson," she thought as she dug around in her purse for something. "Don't worry, Ronnie, I'll be okay," Mrs. Bucket said. Ronnie grinned. "This should help," she said as she handed Mrs. Bucket a lollipop. It was labeled "Lollies for Queasy Tummies". "It's a new invention of Willy's, as you can probably guess. I know how you feel about the elevator and figured you might need one," Ronnie explained. Mrs. Bucket grinned back. "Thanks, Ronnie," she said as she unwrapped the lollipop and began to suck on it.

"Good morning! Ready for our adventure?" a cheerful voice called out suddenly. Ronnie and Mrs. Bucket had been so busy getting Mrs. Bucket's digestive system calmed down that they hadn't noticed that Sylvia had been standing on the back porch waiting for them (they had landed the elevator in the backyard amongst some trees and bushes to avoid it being spotted). Now she was walking toward them. "We already had a bit of an adventure just getting here," Mrs. Bucket replied, sucking vigorously on the lollipop.

"Operating the elevator proved to be a bit more difficult then I had anticipated," Ronnie explained. "Riding in that thing can be bad enough in the best situations, so I can only imagine how you must feel now," Sylvia said, remembering her own experience with the elevator. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it enjoyable or relaxing, put it that way," Mrs. Bucket chuckled.

"Would you like to rest a bit before we head out?" Sylvia asked. "No, I think I'll be okay. Ronnie gave me one of Willy's newest inventions, 'Lollies for Queasy Tummies', and it's helping already. Still, it would probably be best if I skipped breakfast," Mrs. Bucket said. "In that case, I'm ready to go if you guys are," Sylvia said. Ronnie and Mrs. Bucket nodded that they were, so they all hopped into Sylvia's car and started for the mall (luckily, it was already seven and the mall opened a bit earlier than most!).

"So, how's the wedding prep going?" Sylvia asked. "Quite well. The service has been pretty much planned, and with the Oompa Loompas helping, we should have everything ready in no time," Mrs. Bucket replied. "I take it the Oompa Loompas are quite eager to help with the preparation," Sylvia said with a smile. Although she didn't know the Oompa Loompas that well (since she hadn't been to the factory very much), she had already grown quite fond of the impish little creatures.

Mrs. Bucket grinned back. "That's an understatement! They're so excited you'd think it was Christmas morning! Willy and Ronnie had to work to keep the minister from planning the entire service himself, and I don't think the chief and his wife have stopped dancing with excitement since Willy and Ronnie asked them to be Ring Bearer and Flower Lady," she chuckled.

"Charlie must be excited, too," Sylvia commented. "He is. At the same time, though, he and Willy are quite close. They're like brothers, really, and I think he's a bit nervous that the wedding may change the dynamics between them," Mrs. Bucket explained. Sylvia glanced at Ronnie, who was sitting up front with her and was being uncharacteristically quiet. One look at her daughter's face told her that Charlie wasn't the only one who was a bit nervous about the wedding.

"Ronnie, you're a bit nervous about the wedding, too, aren't you?" Sylvia asked gently. Ronnie nodded. "That's perfectly natural. Getting married is a big, life-changing event after all. You should have seen me right before I married your father!" Sylvia said soothingly. "You were nervous about marrying dad?" Ronnie asked incredulously. "I was a wreck. I was happy and excited, of course, but at the same time I was very nervous. Basically, I was an emotional mess," Sylvia replied. "You? An emotional mess? But you're always so strong!" Ronnie exclaimed.

Sylvia looked at her daughter, a sadness showing in her blue eyes. "I'm glad you think of me that way. But believe me, there are times when I have barely had the strength to make myself get out of bed, let alone do anything else," she said softly. Mrs. Bucket knew exactly what Sylvia was referring to, and she felt a tugging at her heart. Sylvia Wells may have been a very cheerful, up-beat woman on the outside, but Mrs. Bucket sensed there was a lot of sadness buried within her heart. Obviously she had always tried to keep it well hidden for her daughter's sake, which was why Ronnie thought she was so strong.

Mrs. Bucket reached out and gave Sylvia's shoulder a friendly squeeze. "We all have our moments. What's important is knowing that when you DO have those moments, you aren't alone," she said. Sylvia turned ever so slightly (so that she could still keep her eyes on the road) and smiled at her. She knew that was Mrs. Bucket's way of telling her that she understood the deeper meaning behind her words and was offering support. "Thank you," she said.

Much to the trio's relief, they arrived at the mall before things had a chance to get any more depressing! After parking the car and going inside, they headed straight for a mall directory. "We definitely don't want to look at dresses first, do we?" Sylvia teased her daughter. Ronnie playfully bopped her on the shoulder. "Mom! You know darn well that I'm eager to get my dress picked out!" she giggled. Sylvia's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Really? I had no idea!" she joked as she ran her finger down the list of specialty shops. "Ah, here we are. Sadie's Bridal Boutique. It's on the first floor," Sylvia said (they, of course, had come in through a second-floor entrance). Then, glancing at Mrs. Bucket, she smiled and added, "I think we'll take the escalator".

It didn't take them long to reach the bridal shop. "How am I ever going to be able to chose a dress?" Ronnie asked as she looked around at all the possibilities. "I know it seems overwhelming right now, but we'll find something," Sylvia assured her. The three women spent the next several minutes trying on dresses, with Ronnie feeling more and more discouraged with each dress she tried.

By the time they had finished trying on dresses, both Sylvia and Mrs. Bucket had found theirs. Mrs. Bucket had chosen a chocolate brown dress (which they all agreed was perfect, considering the fact that Ronnie was marrying the world's most famous chocolatier!), while the dress Sylvia had chosen was blue. Ronnie, however, had not been able to decide. She hadn't really liked any of the dresses she had tried on. They had all been white, of course, and although white is supposed to go with just about everything, she wasn't sure she liked how the color looked on her. "Oh, who am I kidding? The white dress thing just isn't me!" she thought.

As if she had read her daughter's mind, Sylvia suddenly said, "You know, Ronnie, there's no law that states that a wedding dress HAS to be white. If that's not your thing, then it's not your thing, and that's fine". Ronnie smiled gratefully at her. "You're right, it's not my thing, and I don't know why I thought I had to stay traditional," she said. So they headed back out of the fitting room to look at dresses once more.

Now, instead of trying to find a white dress she could live with, Ronnie simply looked for a dress that would "speak" to her. She expected another long search, but to her surprise, a dress "spoke" to her almost immediately. It was a light lavender, and the material felt wonderfully soft. "I kind of like this one," Ronnie said as she took it off the rack. "Well, then, try it on!" Sylvia urged. They headed back to the fitting room, and Ronnie ducked into a stall and slipped into the dress. She smiled as the soft, smooth material fell against her skin.

"Well, what do you think?" Ronnie asked as she stepped out of the stall to show Sylvia and Mrs. Bucket what the dress looked like on her. "Lavender is definitely your color. The dress suits you," Mrs. Bucket said. Sylvia looked at Ronnie, tears of happiness glistening in her eyes. "You look...Ronnie, you look absolutely beautiful. It's as if that dress was made just for you. It's wonderfully unique, and I wouldn't expect anything less from my baby girl," she said. Ronnie knew then that it was time to ask her mom about the one wedding thing that still remained unplanned.

"Mom, you know how James started to say the other day that a bride is usually walked down the aisle by her father?" Ronnie inquired (Mr. Bucket had told her that if she was going to call Mrs. Bucket Nora, then she needed to call him James). Sylvia nodded. "Well, obviously that won't work for me. But there IS somebody whom I'd love to walk me down the aisle. Somebody who has had to be both mother and father to me, and who has been there for me every step of the way, somebody whom, if she agrees, will be representing my father as well as herself," she said. Then she looked Sylvia directly in the eye and asked, "Mom, will you please walk me down the aisle?"

The tears in Sylvia's eyes spilled over onto her cheeks, and she felt a lump rising in her throat. Since she didn't feel like she could trust her voice, she nodded. Then she leaned over and embraced her daughter. Mrs. Bucket, knowing they'd probably like some privacy, gently directed them into a stall. Mother and daughter just stood there for awhile, embracing each other and crying (it hadn't taken very long for Ronnie's emotions to overtake her as well). Finally, Sylvia managed to find her voice. "Ronnie, nothing would make me happier than to walk you down the aisle. I am honored that you asked me," she said.

As soon as Sylvia and Ronnie managed to get themselves back together, they rejoined Mrs. Bucket and the three of them payed for their purchases (including a veil they had found to go with Ronnie's dress). Then they ducked into a shoe store and bought some shoes to go with their dresses. Their next stop was a bath and body shop. "A wedding is a very important occasion, after all, so I think we deserve to go all out," Sylvia said. They picked up a home manicure/pedicure kit, some face mask cream, and a few other things.

After grabbing lunch at the mall's food court, they headed to a nearby florist's and picked out flowers for the bouquets and for decorating the Chocolate Room. This wasn't a very easy task, since Ronnie and Mrs. Bucket each wanted a different mixture of flowers for her bouquet. Naturally, though, getting separate types of flowers for each bouquet didn't exactly make much sense. It would be much easier to get the same mixture for both (with perhaps a few extra flower types for Ronnie's).

Just when they thought they were about to go crazy (not to mention drive the poor florist who was trying to help them crazy!), Sylvia thought up a creative compromise. Each woman would get to choose one of the types of flowers for her bouquet. The rest would be for both bouquets, and since Ronnie was the one getting married, she would get to pick them.

Once they got the flowers chosen, Sylvia gave the florist her address and asked for the bouquets to be delivered there once they were ready (obviously having them delivered to the factory was out of the question, since the florist would wonder why in the world they wanted their bouquets delivered to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and that was, of course, a question that they weren't willing to answer!).

They spent the rest of the afternoon poking around various stores and just having fun. Then, finally, it was time to head to supper. Sylvia had made five o' clock reservations for them at a seafood restaurant called **Tentacles, Fins 'n More **(she had, of course, checked with Ronnie beforehand to make sure Mrs. Bucket liked seafood, and more importantly, that she wasn't allergic to it!). "Well, I think we successfully accomplished our mission," Mrs. Bucket said as they waited for their food to come. I think s..." Ronnie trailed off as she realized that she'd forgotten something important. "Actually, not quite. I forgot about something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue," she said.

"Don't worry, that shouldn't be too hard to figure out. We've got something new covered at least, since your dress is new, and I'd be happy to loan you a pair of earrings or something, which would take care of something borrowed," said Mrs. Bucket. "Now, as for something old, I can take care of that," Sylvia said. "What do you have in mind?" Ronnie asked. Sylvia just smiled. "You'll see," she said. "So that jut leaves something blue," Mrs. Bucket said. "Well, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I've got some blue underwear," Ronnie said. Unfortunately, the waiter picked that moment to arrive with their food.

Ronnie blushed crimson. "I'd like to crawl under this table and die!" she thought. "Don't worry, I don't think he heard you. And even if he did, I'm sure he's heard worse," Sylvia assured her daughter as the waiter left. Ronnie just shook her head as she dug into her oysters. "You know, that's an interesting meal to order when you're about to get married, seeing as how oysters have long been seen as a fertility booster and all," Sylvia chuckled, indicating her daughter's meal.

She had meant to cheer Ronnie up, but to her surprise, she looked horrified instead. "Mother!" she hissed. Then Sylvia realized just what she had unintentionally implied, and it was her turn to want to crawl under the table and die. "Great, Sylvia, just great! Open mouth, insert foot!" she thought. She was barely able to make herself look her daughter in the eye. "I...I was just joking around, honest! I didn't mean to imply...oh, that couldn't possibly have come out any worse, could it?" she stammered.

"It's okay, mom. I'm not mad or anything. A little embarrassed, but not mad," Ronnie assured her. Mrs. Bucket, meanwhile, was beginning to resemble a tomato from trying to hold in her laughter. "Excuse me," she choked out as she ran for the ladies' room. "Boy, some mother I am! Instead of cheering my daughter up, I embarrass her even further!" Sylvia groaned. "Mom, really, it's okay. It's just one of those awkward situations," Ronnie said. "You can say that again! I can't believe I did that!" Sylvia mumbled. "Here, mom, have an oyster," Ronnie said, holding up one of the aforementioned mollusks.

That did it. Sylvia burst out laughing, and Ronnie joined her. "There may have been some awkward moments, but I'm glad you suggested this trip, mom," Ronnie said. Sylvie smiled at her daughter. "Me, too," she said.

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**A/n: **Did you enjoy this slightly longer chapter? I sure hope so, because the next one will probably be even longer! And that's because the next chapter is...

**Chapter 20 Preview: **It's wedding time!


	21. Chapter 20: Mr and Mrs Wonka

**Disclaimer: **I don't own a single darn thing in this story!

**A/n: **Well, here it is, the wedding! I mentioned at the end of the last chapter that this one might be longer. Well, it's longer all right! In fact, it's much longer than I had anticipated, and now I'm hoping it's not TOO long! I figured that since this chapter is the wedding, it would be all right for it to be longer. Plus, I didn't feel like I could succesfully break it up into two chapters, nor did I really want to. So I hope that you enjoy this rather epic chapter, and I hope I did at least an ok job with it! With that out of the way, I would like to extend a HUGE thanks to the two people who took the time to review the last chapter. It really means a lot to me! As always, I ask that you please keep those reviews coming, as they really inspire me and let me know that I am doing okay with this!

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"_Good morning, Starshine! The Earth says hello..." _Ronnie rolled over and slapped impatiently at the alarm clock, trying to hit the snooze button. "Five more minutes!" she said sleepily. Then, suddenly, she was wide awake as she remembered what day it was. It was her and Willy's wedding day! "Forget the snooze button! I should have gotten up ten minutes ago!" Ronnie thought as she jumped out of bed and switched off the alarm.

"At least I don't have to worry about slipping into the factory without anybody seeing me!" she thought. Ronnie had officially moved into the factory the day before (she had left some of her furniture, such as her bed, at her apartment since she wouldn't need it anymore, but the rest, along with her other belongings, had been transported to the factory via one of the Wonka delivery trucks to avoid suspicion). Since she and Willy both had rather traditional views when it came to co-habiting (let alone sleeping together!) before marriage, however, she had slept in the Strawberry Bedroom.

But for once, she couldn't enjoy what had come to be one of her favorite rooms in the factory. She was too busy pacing frantically around it, mentally going through a list of all the things that needed to be done before the ceremony. Then she made the mistake of looking in the mirror. "Eeek!" she cried at the sight of her reflection. Before she had the chance to get even more frantic, there was a knock on her door. "Who is it?" she called (no way was she about to let just anybody into her room when she was in her pajamas and she looked as though she had just been part of one of Willy's failed candy experiments!).

"It's just me," her mother's soft, comforting voice said (naturally, Sylvia, too, had spent the night at the factory!). "Then come on in," Ronnie said. The door opened and Sylvia walked into her daughter's room. "Breakfast will be ready shortly" she said. "Mom, I couldn't possibly eat anything, considering that my stomach seems to have turned into a butterfly nursery at the moment," Ronnie said. "I know you're nervous, Ronnie, and that's natural. But you need to eat. I don't want you fainting in the middle of the ceremony!" Sylvia insisted. "Oh, great, something else for me to worry about!" Ronnie groaned.

"I didn't mean it that way, and I don't think you will. Just the same, though, you need some food in you," Sylvia said. Ronnie knew there was no arguing with her mother. "Okay, okay! You win! I'll eat something!" Ronnie said, still sounding nervous as all get-out. "Ronnie, relax. It's going to be okay," Sylvia assured her. "Mom, how can I possibly relax? I'm supposed to get married in just a few hours and we have so much time and so little to do!" Ronnie exclaimed. Then she realized her mistake. "Wait. Strike that last part, reverse it," she corrected herself. "Ronnie, we'll get everything done," Sylvia assured her.

"But after breakfast we need to get cleaned up, and then we need to do our hair and nails...and that's going to be quite a task considering I look like the bride of Frankenstein's monster! And wait...did you remember to bring the bouquets when you came yesterday? And then there's..." Ronnie fretted. Sylvia put her hand on her daughter's shoulder to stop her. "Veronica Charlotte Wells, you're going to give yourself a heart attack if you don't take it easy! I promise you we will get everything done that needs to be done before the wedding, and yes, I remembered the bouquets. You know I wouldn't forget something like that. And at this hour of the morning, nobody is going to look that great. It's called having just gotten out of bed. Now take some deep breaths!" Sylvia soothed her daughter.

Ronnie followed her mother's advice, and found that she did feel calmer after having taken the deep breaths. "Thanks, mom. I feel a bit better now," Ronnie said. "Then are you ready to go meet the Buckets and head to breakfast?" Sylvia asked (since the wedding was going to be held in the Chocolate Room and the Oompa Loompas needed to prepare it, the Buckets had gotten out of their way by using the "Hall of Tasty Bedrooms" as Willy called it, as a hotel of sorts the night before. In fact, it was more like a bed and breakfast, since the Oompa Loompas were going to be serving breakfast to them, as well as for Ronnie and Sylvia, in the "Syrupy Sweet Breakfast Nook".).

"Yes, I think so," Ronnie said. Sylvia opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Instead of following her, Ronnie carefully peaked around the door and looked down both ends of the hallway. "Don't worry, Ronnie, Willy's eating breakfast in his living quarter's this morning, and the Oompa Loompas have given him strict instructions to stay out of this hallway today! They've told him that if he doesn't, he will be banned from the Inventing Room for a day!" Sylvia said, noticing what she was doing (Willy and Ronnie had decided that on this, the day of their wedding, they would not see each other until Ronnie walked down the aisle).

Ronnie couldn't help but laugh. "That definitely ought to keep him out of here!" she chuckled. Just as she stepped into the hallway, two more doors opened. The grandparents stumbled out of the Gumdrop Bedroom, and Mr. and Mrs. Bucket emerged from the Lollipop Bedroom. Mrs. Bucket immediately walked over to the door to the Wonka Bar Bedroom and knocked on it. "Charlie, up and at 'em! It's breakfast time!" she called. Then she turned to Ronnie, Sylvia, and the grandparents. "Good morning! Today is the big day!" she said with a grin.

Ronnie grinned back. "It sure is!" she said. She had been feeling much calmer ever since she had seen Mrs. Bucket come out of her and Mr. Bucket's bedroom. That was because Mrs. Bucket looked even worse than she did! Her brown curls stuck out every which-way, making her look not just a little bit like a mad scientist! Ronnie didn't realize she had been starring until Mrs. Bucket teased, "Don't we look glamorous?" "I'm sorry, Nora, I didn't mean to stare," Ronnie apologized, her cheeks turning pink. "It's all right, Ronnie. I know I'm quite a sight when I first get up!" Mrs. Bucket laughed.

"What are you talking about? The only "sight" you ever are is a sight for sore eyes!" Mr. Bucket insisted. "Awww, James!" Mrs. Bucket crooned. "Well it's true. You're beautiful!" Mr. Bucket insisted. Then he scooped his wife into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss. At that moment, Charlie emerged from the Wonka Bar Bedroom. He quickly averted his gaze when he saw what his parents were doing.

"Just how to you expect me to be able to eat breakfast when you do that in front of me?" Charlie asked in disgust. His parents ignored him, lost in their own world. Charlie sighed. "I guess I'd better get used to it, since I'm sure I'm going to be seeing a lot more of that today," he said. Ronnie playfully tousled his hair. "If I have anything to say about it, you definitely will!" she said mischievously. "EWWWW!" Charlie responded. "Come on, let's go eat," Ronnie said.

The minute the group (including Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, who had finished their kissing session) arrived in the breakfast nook, Charlie forgot all about kissing. The table was set with a delicious spread of various breakfast items, including pancakes, waffles, and French toast. And it all smelled so good that Charlie thought he might just pass out! "The Oompa Loompas must have fixed every breakfast food in the factory!" Grandpa Joe remarked as they all sat down.

Ronnie didn't hear him, though. All of her attention was on her place at the table. While the Buckets and Sylvia had a choice of where to sit, Ronnie had been surprised to discover that her place had already been chosen for her. Next to her plate was an eatable strawberry enveloped marked "Starshine". And whereas the Buckets' and her mother's plates were empty and waiting for them to serve themselves, hers already had food on it.

There was a heart-shaped chocolate waffle with strawberry syrup drizzled over it and strawberries (from the Strawberry flavored, Chocolate Coated Fudge room) on top, a candy apple from the Chocolate Room, and a Whipplescrumptious Fudgemallow Delight bar. Next to the plate sat one of Willy's newest inventions: An eatable buttercup filled with a delicious honey and buttermilk tea.

Ronnie felt tears come to her eyes. All of the items on and by her plate were her favorite foods from the factory, except for the chocolate waffle, which was something she'd never had before. She knew immediately that Willy had made her breakfast himself. She carefully opened up the envelope and pulled out a card. It featured a drawing of a very familiar woman sitting by the Chocolate River, surrounded by her favorite candies and drinking a cup of buttermilk tea. A very familiar chocolatier was standing off to the side, looking at her lovingly.

Below the picture were the words, "Chocolate is sweet, buttercups are too..." Then she flipped the card open to reveal the message "...but nothing is sweeter than you!" Underneath that was written, "I can't believe that you are going to my wife in a few hours time, my starshine. I hope you enjoy your breakfast, especially the chocolate waffle that I created just for you". It was signed "Your sweet candy man" ("my sweet candy man" was something that Ronnie often called Willy).

Charlie, who happened to be sitting next to Ronnie, caught a glimpse of the card as Ronnie set it down. "'Your sweet candy man'? Must be one of those mushy love letters. Gross!" he exclaimed. "Charlie, you know better than to snoop like that!" Mrs. Bucket (who was sitting on the other side of Charlie) scolded him. "But I wasn't snooping, mom! I just happened to see it as Ronnie set it down!" Charlie protested. Ronnie slipped the card back into the envelope. "It's all right, Mrs. Bucket. I don't feel that he was snooping," she assured Charlie's mother. Then, her eyes twinkling, she turned to face Charlie. "And to answer your question, Charlie, I WILL say that the card is from Willy," she said.

"I knew it!" Charlie said. Then he began making kissing noises. "Charlie!" Mrs. Bucket warned her son. "If you think he's bad, Mrs. Bucket, you should hear the Oompa Loompas!" Ronnie giggled. Mrs. Bucket just shook her head and decided it was best to change the subject. "So, does everyone have their wedding outfits ready?" she asked. Everyone nodded. "I can't believe Willy is making us guys wear those big bow ties! I realize that neck ties aren't his style, but big bow ties? I'm going to look like a clown!" Charlie protested. "Charlie, you're not going to look like a clown. Our bow ties are bigger than average, but they aren't clown huge, either," Mr. Bucket reminded his son (although Mr. Bucket wasn't going to be in the wedding, he and the grandfathers were going to wear bow ties as well).

"At least all you have to worry about is your bow tie, Charlie. I have to get ready for the wedding AND I have to pack for the honeymoon. I know I should have done that yesterday, but I was a little preoccupied with the rehearsal and moving into the factory and all," Ronnie said. "You know, Willy sure is being mysterious when it comes to your honeymoon. I've asked him several times where you're going, and he always tells me either that it's top secret, or that I really need to stop mumbling," Charlie said. Ronnie smiled at him. She could already tell that she was going to like being around him more. "Charlie, it's not just you he's being mysterious with. He hasn't even told ME where we're going yet. He says it's a surprise. The only clue he's given me as to the location is the stuff he's told me to pack," she said.

"Well, I suppose we'd better start getting ready," Mrs. Bucket said before that particular conversation could go any further (she didn't want Ronnie to feel pestered by Charlie, and since everyone was pretty much done eating, she figured that as good an excuse as any to change the subject). Ronnie looked at her watch. "I'll say! It's ten after nine! The wedding is in less than four hours!" she exclaimed, sounding frantic (the wedding was to begin at one in the afternoon). "Deep breaths Ronnie, deep breaths," Sylvia told her daughter.

With that, the group headed back to the hallway. Mrs. Bucket reached out and hugged Ronnie. "I'll see you down in the Chocolate Room. And don't worry, everything will be fine," she told her. "Thanks, Mrs. Bucket," Ronnie said as she returned the hug. Then Mrs. Bucket disappeared into the Lollipop Bedroom. "Grandpa Joe and I will be along to help you get ready just as soon as we're done getting ready ourselves," Mr. Bucket told Charlie before he did the same.

"Okay, Ronnie, you know the plan. Once you've finished washing up, come into my room and we'll do hair and nails and stuff," Sylvia said. "Okay, mom," Ronnie said nervously as she headed into her room. She was just about to jump into the jacuzzi when she remembered that all of her clothes (except for her pajamas, her bath robe and her wedding dress, shoes, veil and accessories) were in Willy's room (since, after all, that would also be her room after the wedding!). So she quickly wrote a list of what she needed to pack for the honeymoon, called for an Oompa Loompa, gave her (the female Oompa Loompas had agreed to stand by that day in case Ronnie or any of the other women in the wedding needed anything) the list, and asked her to retrieve the items on it (there was no way she was going to risk going to Willy's room herself, since there was too much chance she might see him if she did!). Luckily, the little woman was more than happy to do so.

"Finally, I get to relax for a few minutes!" Ronnie exclaimed as she hopped into the jacuzzi. She didn't think she had ever bathed as thoroughly as she did that day. She scrubbed her body all over until her skin became pink, went through nearly half a bar of soap, and did two cycles of hair washing. Then she drained the jacuzzi, toweled herself off and grabbed her bath robe off the hanger on the door. After making sure the bathroom was cleaned up, she headed across the hall to Sylvia's room (which happened to be the Marshmallow Bedroom). As she did so, she was dismayed to find that the bath had not really relaxed her at all. In fact, she was more nervous than ever.

**WWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

Sylvia had just gotten out of the shower (about half of the bathrooms in the "Hall of Tasty Bedrooms" contained jacuzzis, while the other half contained large, walk-in showers. Sylvia's bathroom contained the latter.) and slipped into her robe when her daughter knocked on the door. "She couldn't have timed that better if she tried!" Sylvia thought as she opened the door to allow Ronnie to step inside. She had been intending to make some sort of joke about Ronnie's impeccable timing, but the minute she saw her daughter's face, any thoughts of joking around flew right out of her head. She could tell right away that Ronnie was not in the mood for jokes. "Ronnie, dear, are you all right?" Sylvia asked.

With those six simple words, something inside Ronnie was released, and the emotions she had been struggling to keep in check all morning came pouring out in loud, hard sobs. Sylvia closed the door softly behind her and then wrapped her arms around her daughter. She didn't say anything, but simply held Ronnie close as the younger woman collapsed into her embrace and cried into her shoulder. After several minutes, Ronnie finally managed to find her voice.

"I'm sorry, mom. I am happy about getting married, don't get me wrong, but I'm nervous, too. I mean, in just a short while, my life is going to be changed forever. It's a good change, of course, but I still feel nervous, too. I don't know, I'm just all mixed up!" she said. "Ronnie, you have nothing to apologize for. You have every right to be nervous. Not only that, but as I've told you before, it's perfectly normal for you to be feeling this way right now," Sylvia said soothingly.

"Is this how you felt when you were about to marry dad?" Ronnie asked. Sylvia smiled. "Yes, it was. My mother comforted me just the same as I am doing with you now. And do you know what she told me?" Sylvia told her daughter. "That it was completely normal for you to be nervous?" Ronnie guessed. "Well, yes, but she also told me that although I was nervous right then, all of this was going to be worth it in the end. And it was, because, for one thing, I have you in my life now because of marrying your father. Now I am telling you the same thing, it's going to be worth it in the end. I know you know that, just as my mother knew I knew that. But sometimes it helps to have a little reminder," Sylvia explained as she smiled lovingly at Ronnie.

Ronnie smiled back. "Thanks, mom. I know you're right," she said. "I'm always right," Sylvia teased. Ronnie chuckled. "Usually you are," she agreed. Sylvia chuckled, too. "Now then, should we start getting ready?" she asked. "Definitely," Ronnie replied. With that, Sylvia sat her daughter in a chair, grabbed the home manicure/pedicure kit, and started doing her nails. When that was done, she and Ronnie talked for a bit while Ronnie's nails dried. Then they switched places and Ronnie did Sylvia's nails.

Once Sylvia's nails were dry, the two women put on their dresses, stockings, and shoes. "Ready for me to fix your hair?" Sylvia asked when they were dressed. "What do you have in mind?" Ronnie inquired. "Don't worry, I think you're going to like it," Sylvia said, motioning for Ronnie to follow her into the bathroom. In the bathroom, Sylvia began drying Ronnie's hair with a blow dryer. When Ronnie's hair went from wet to mildly damp, Sylvia turned off the hair dryer and reached for the curling iron that was sitting on the counter. Working carefully, she curled soft waves into her daughter's hair. "I love it!" Ronnie said when her mom had finished.

Sylvia grinned. "I'm not done yet!" she said. She picked up some flowers that she had left sitting in a glass of water on the counter and began sticking them in Ronnie's hair, using bobby pins to hold them in place. "NOW I'm done," she said when she had finished. "You did great, mom!" Ronnie said, grinning at her reflection in the mirror. "I'm glad you like it. Now, let me get that 'something old' I promised you," Sylvia said. While Sylvia was out in the other room, Ronnie put on the earrings Mrs. Bucket had loaned her.

Just as she was finishing up, Sylvia returned, carrying a tiny box in her hands. She opened it up and pulled out a delicate, gold necklace. It was quite pretty, Ronnie thought, with a pendant consisting of two hearts fused together. "This isn't an antique by any means, but it should still qualify as something old, because it was exactly forty years ago today that I received this," Sylvia said, a look of fondness and memory in her eyes. "Who gave it to you?" Ronnie asked, although she already had a hunch. "Your father did, on the day we were married. He said it was a symbol of our love, and that it was a way for him to be close to me always," Sylvia explained, her expression now one of sadness as well as fondness.

"Are you sure you want to give that to me? After all, it's about all you have left of dad," she said. "I'm positive, Ronnie. Not only do I want to give it to you, but I know that your father would want me to give it to you, too. Now you will always have both of us close to you. And as for it being all I have left of him, that's not true. I have a piece of him that's even more special than that necklace...you," Sylvia said as she fastened the necklace around her daughter's neck. "Thank you, mom. I will treasure this always," Ronnie said softly. Then she remembered how her mother had said that it had been exactly 40 years ago that she and received the necklace, and then that Ronnie's father had given it to her on their wedding day. Her eyes went wide with the realization.

"Oh my gosh! Mom, if dad gave this to you on your wedding day, and he gave it you exactly forty years ago, then today is not just my wedding day. It's also what would have been your and dad's 40th wedding anniversary," she said. Sylvia looked at her daughter, her blue eyes teary. "Yes, indeed. I'm not really sure why I didn't tell you before. I guess I never felt like talking about it, and then I didn't want to make you feel sad on your wedding day," she said, so softly that Ronnie could barely hear her.

Ronnie realized now that her mom must be feeling even more emotional than she was. Although this day was obviously a happy one for her, Ronnie knew that it must also be hard for her as well, since the man she had married those forty years earlier was no longer at her side. Not only that, but Ronnie had also realized that since her dad had died while her mother was pregnant with her and she was now 36 years old, her parents had only been married for four years when he passed.

"Oh, mom! I didn't realize how difficult this day must be for you," Ronnie said, embracing her mother. "It is a little hard for me," Sylvia admitted. Then she quickly added, "But don't worry, I'll get through it, and I'm very happy for you." "I love you, mom," Ronnie said. "I love you, too, Ronnie," Sylvia responded. Then, after they had been silent for a few minutes, she said, "If your father were here with us today, I know that he would be beside himself with happiness, and that he would be very proud of you. But I also know that he wouldn't want us to be sad on what should be a happy day."

"I wish I could have known him," Ronnie murmured. "I wish you could have, too. He was so excited that our family was about to grow, and he couldn't wait to meet you," Sylvia said, her voice tinged with both tenderness and sadness. "Speaking of families growing, if Willy and I ever have a daughter, I promise you that I will one day pass this necklace on to her," Ronnie said as she lovingly fingered the necklace her mother had given her.

Sylvia couldn't help but smile. Was it just her imagination, she wondered, or had she detected a hint of broodiness in her daughter's voice? "Sylvia, for heaven's sake, let them get married first!" she scolded herself. Luckily, Ronnie didn't seem to have picked up on what her mother had been thinking. "I supposed we'd better get down to the Chocolate Room soon," she said. Sylvia glanced at the clock on the wall, which read a quarter to one. "Yeah, I should say so," she said, grinning at her daughter.

Within a matter of minutes, they had reached the Chocolate Room (which Ronnie was very grateful for, since she'd spent the entire elevator ride trying to make sure that if there were any mischievous Oompa Loompas looking up at them from the rooms below, they wouldn't get any glimpses of her underwear!). "Dresses and glass elevators don't mix very well, do they?" Sylvia teased her daughter. "No, they definitely don't!" Ronnie chuckled. Then they headed to the area they were to walk into the ceremony from (which had been framed with candy trees and bushes so that Willy couldn't see back there!). Mrs Bucket and Charlie were already there, along with the Oompa Loompa chief and his wife. "Are you ready?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "As I'll ever be," Ronnie replied.

**WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

Willy, meanwhile, was standing at the altar that had been constructed for the occasion. Although he didn't want to admit it, even to himself, he was every bit as nervous as Ronnie had been earlier. He was so nervous, in fact, that he hadn't even noticed when Mr. Bucket and a few of the Oompa Loompas (who were serving as ushers) escorted the grandparents and the remainder of the Oompa Loompa tribe into the ceremony area. Instead, he had been focusing on checking with the Oompa Loompa minister to make sure everything was in order for the ceremony (the minister had assured him several times that it was). Now the minister was busy getting ready to begin the service and couldn't talk any more. So the chocolatier was fiddling with his bow tie instead (which, of course, featured his trademark W monogram!).

While Willy was busy examining his bow tie, one of the Oompa Loompa ushers headed up the aisle and signaled to the minister that the service could begin. The minister gestured back. Willy recognized the gestures as meaning, "Good, I think Mr. Wonka is about to pass out or something!" He couldn't bring himself to scold the minister, though...mostly because what he had spoken was the truth!

Right as the chocolatier was thinking he couldn't take it a second longer, the minister cleared his throat and announced, "Good afternoon. We gather here today to celebrate the marriage of Wilhelm Wonka to Veronica Wells." (the minister, of course, was one of the Oompa Loompas who had learned how to speak English!). After the entrance hymn and a few invocations, the pianist (another Oompa Loompa, of course) began playing the processional music. It was a song the Oompa Loompas had composed (based on how they felt Willy and Ronnie saw the world) especially for the occasion. They had titled it "Pure Imagination".

Willy watched as the Oompa Loompa chief and his wife began walking up the aisle. The chief was wearing a suit similar to what the human males in the wedding party were wearing, while his wife wore a dress similar in color to Mrs. Bucket's (she had originally wanted to wear the traditional tribal dress of the Oompa Loompa women, which was a grass skirt and a bikini-style top made out of cocoa bean pods. Willy and Ronnie had gently explained that an outfit like that wasn't exactly wedding appropriate! So she compromised with a cocoa bean-colored dress.). The chief's wife tossed petals from her cocoa bean pod basket, while her husband carefully carried the cocoa bean pod containing the rings.

When the chief and his wife had almost reached the altar, Mrs. Bucket and Charlie took their turn walking down the aisle. Willy smiled with pride as he looked at his heir. He looked so grown up in his suit and bow tie, Willy thought. Charlie returned the smile as he went to stand next to his mentor. For her part, Mrs. Bucket smiled out at the audience as she took her place next to the chief's wife (Willy couldn't help but think that her smile had probably been aimed at Mr. Bucket!).

Willy was feeling a little more relaxed now, thinking he had everything under control. But nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met his eyes next. There, practically floating down the aisle on her mother's arm, was his bride. Her long hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, made even more beautiful by the flowers that were stuck in it. Willy realized that he had rarely seen Ronnie with her hair down (she normally wore it pulled back in a ponytail, a leftover of her days at Slugworth's, when pulled-back hair had been a must), and he hoped she would continue to wear it that way often. As if her hair weren't beautiful enough, her lavender dress made her look, Willy thought, simply breath-taking. "She looks like an angel!" he thought.

It was when Ronnie caught Willy's gaze and smiled at him that the chocolatier just about lost it. He felt a lump rise in his throat, and tears sprang to his eyes. "My starshine, my beautiful starshine!" he thought. As Ronnie took her place beside him, he saw that she, too, had tears in her eyes. Ronnie and Willy weren't the only ones, though. Right after Sylvia went and sat down, Willy saw her dig a tissue out of her sleeve and dab at her eyes with it. And to his surprise, even his father (who was sitting next to Sylvia) was looking a little emotional!

With the processional over, Grandpa Joe got up to read the scriptures (he had been so happy when Willy and Ronnie asked them that he had come close to crying himself!). After that was done, the minister preached a short sermon. This was followed by another hymn, and then the moment Willy and Ronnie had been waiting for finally came. They turned toward each other, and then Willy spoke his vows: "_I, Wilhelm Walsh Wonka, take you, Veronica Charlotte Wells, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And to you I pledge my faithfulness."_

Then it was Ronnie's turn: _"I, Veronica Charlotte Wells, take you, Wilhelm Walsh Wonka, to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And to you I pledge my faithfulness"._

When Ronnie had finished, the minister turned to Charlie. "May I have the rings, please?" he asked. Charlie smiled and handed him the two aforementioned objects. Then the minister gave one of the rings to Willy. The chocolatier slipped it onto his bride's finger as he said: _"Veronica, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you"_. The minister handed the remaining ring to Ronnie, and as she slipped it onto Willy's finger she said: _"Wilhelm, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you"_. After this was done, the minister blessed the marriage, then turned to Willy and said, "You may kiss the bride". With that, Willy swept Ronnie into his arms and gave her the biggest, most passionate kiss he had ever given her. Once the (very long!) kiss was finished, the minister asked them to face the crowd and then said, "I am very pleased to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm and Veronica Wonka!"

In response to this, the crowd cheered. After the minister thanked everyone for coming and gave instructions on how to proceed to the part of the Chocolate Room the reception was going to be held in, the recessional music began. For that, Willy and Ronnie had chosen Willy's "Welcome Song". Grinning so hard they thought their cheeks might break, the newlyweds headed down the aisle arm and arm. As the reached the end of the aisle, the last part of the song was played. To their surprise, the entire Oompa Loompa tribe suddenly jumped up and sang the last line of the song, but in a different way than it had originally been penned, "...Mr. and Mrs. Wonka, here they are!"

**WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

Not too much later, everyone was gathered in what had, for the day, been dubbed "The Chocolate Reception Hall". The Oompa Loompas had gone all out transforming an area of the Chocolate Room into a reception hall. There were several long tables, one of which was covered with Willy's and Ronnie's favorite foods. The other tables were decorated with vases of candy flowers, and the entire room was filled with bunches of candy balloons. As if that weren't enough, a banner was stretched above the food table. It read: "Congratulations, Willy and Ronnie!"

After Willy, Ronnie, and their attendants had finished greeting the guests in the receiving line, everyone sat down at the tables and the Oompa Loompa chief (who, like the minister, knew how to speak English) led the group in a table prayer. Then they all got up again and got their food. The meal was a fairly quite one, as all the running around and preparing for the wedding that they had done earlier had made everyone extremely hungry! Because everyone was so focused on their food, the meal ended up being a quick one, too!

When everyone had finished eating, the chief got up once again and stood before the group (on a stool, naturally, so he could be seen!). "I know it is not usually customary for the Ring Bearer to give a toast, but since I am the chief of the tribe who works for the groom, I felt that I should," he began. He went on to talk about how happy he was for Willy and Ronnie, and how much the Oompa Loompa tribe was going to like having Ronnie around. He also spoke about how much the Oompa Loompa tribe appreciated Willy, and how honored they were to be part of his special day. He finished by saying, "On behalf of the entire Oompa Loompa tribe, I would like to present a gift to the newlyweds. But it is far to big for anyone to care. So I ask that everyone follow me down to the Chocolate River at this time."

Willy and Ronnie exchanged glances as they followed everyone to the river, wondering what this gift from the Oompa Loompa tribe was. "It's wonderful!" Ronnie exclaimed when they reached the riverbank and she saw the gift. It was a much smaller version of the pink candy boat. This one was purple, had only one set of oars and was clearly meant for just two people. Ronnie also couldn't help but notice that her and Willy's suitcases were sitting in it. Obviously the Oompa Loompas meant for them to use the boat as a way to sneak out of the Chocolate Room when they were ready to leave for their honeymoon."We thought you'd enjoy being able to go boating without us have to accompany you now that you're married," the chief said. "We definitely will enjoy it. Thank you," Willy told him.

The chief grinned mischievously at him. "We made it so that the oars can be operated with the push of a few buttons rather than manually. That way, you'll be free to really enjoy yourselves," he said. Willy knew exactly what the chief meant and had to fight to keep himself from blushing. "You're not thinking dirty thoughts in that little noggin of yours, are you?" he asked. The chief looked innocently at the Chocolatier. "Of course not, Mr. Wonka. Why ever would you think that?" he asked. Willy just shook his head as the group headed back to the Chocolate Reception room.

Once everyone was seated again, Mrs. Bucket got up and gave a toast. She talked about how wonderful it had been to watch Willy and Ronnie's relationship unfold and blossom, how happy she was to seem them now as husband and wife, and that she hoped they would be as happy together as she and Mr. Bucket were. Then Charlie got up and took his turn doing a toast. He spoke of how much his mentor meant to him, and how pleased it made him to see him so happy. He also mentioned how much he liked Ronnie. Then he admitted how he had been afraid at first that Willy and Ronnie's marriage would mean his relationship with Willy would change. He explained that he realized now that it wouldn't, and he was very happy to welcome Ronnie to the family (needless to say, Ronnie and Willy were both a bit teary-eyed by the time he was finished!).

Ronnie and Willy had figured that, once Charlie had sat down, the chief would announce it was time for the wedding cake to be cut. But that didn't happen. Instead, to their great surprise, Sylvia got up and walked to the front of the room. Then she cleared her throat and said, "I realize that, just as it's not customary for the Ring Bearer to give a toast, it's not customary for the mother of the bride to give a toast, either. However, I would like to say a few words to my daughter and to my new son-in-law."

She paused a moment, then continued, "Ronnie, you have no idea how special this day has been for me. It seems like just yesterday that the doctor was telling me that I had a beautiful baby girl, and now here it is your wedding day. And Willy, I am very proud to have you as my son-in-law. For years I did not know just what type of man I wanted for my daughter. But when I met you on Easter Sunday, I knew immediately that I was looking at him. I know that my daughter is going to be very happy with you, and you with her."

After another pause, she spoke to Ronnie once again, "My darling daughter, I don't think it's possible for a person to be feeling more pride than I am now. I love you with all my heart, and I want you to know that, even though he never met you, your father loved you with all his heart, too. He was hoping for a baby girl more than anything, and I know that if he were here today..." Sylvia stopped as a lump the size of Texas lodged in her throat, and tears fell onto her cheeks. "Great, just what I wanted, to cry in front of everyone!" she thought.

Just then, Ronnie got up and headed over to her mother. She hugged Sylvia, looked her straight in the eye and said, "Thank you, mom, thank you for everything." Sylvia returned the embrace, her eyes now resembling Niagara falls. "Thank you, too. I love you," she said. Ronnie stayed by her mom's side until her tears subsided (which, much to Sylvia's relief, didn't take more than a few minutes!). Then they returned to their seats and the chief got up yet again (with Ronnie signaling to the group that everything was all right and not to worry).

"If the bride ad groom are ready, we will now have the cake-cutting," he said. Willy and Ronnie signaled that they were, then headed to the food table. A group of Oompa Loompas wheeled out a smaller, square-shaped table covered with the most delicious-looking cake the newlyweds had ever seen. Laying next to it was a small card that read, "Created especially for Willy and Ronnie by Sylvia Wells of Scrumptious Creations by Sylvia". "Oh, mom! Thank you!" Ronnie exclaimed. Sylvia beamed. "Surprise!" she said.

"Ready?" Willy asked his bride, his purple eyes twinkling. "You bet!" Ronnie said with a grin. Together, the bride and groom picked up the cake-cutter and cut the cake. With the ceremonial deed done, Willy wasted no time. He picked up a fork, speared a piece of the wedding cake, and inserted it into his wife's waiting mouth. Grinning, Ronnie took the fork from her husband and returned the gesture.

**WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

Later, after everyone had eaten their share of cake, the Oompa Loompas removed the tables and cleared away the food. The chief, who was now dressed in DJ attire, went to the front of the room and asked into the microphone he was carrying, "Who's ready to dance?" "I am!" everyone else chorused. "In that case, it's time for the first dance!" the chief announced. "Okay, but I have to do one thing first," Ronnie said. Without waiting for the chief to respond, she tossed her bouquet over her shoulder. All of the Oompa Loompa women who were single jumped for it. One of them grabbed for it, but missed and end up batting at it instead. It flew straight over the Oompa Loompas' heads...and to everyone's great surprise, landed directly in Sylvia's arms!

Ronnie couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw her mom look shyly at Dr. Wonka. She didn't have much time to ponder that, though...because the song for the first dance had started playing, and she soon found herself swept into her husband's arms. Then his lips captured hers, and she instantly forgot about everything and everyone else.

* * *

**A/n: **I hope that you enjoyed reading about the wedding as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'd like to explain a few things that were in this chapter, and I also have a little announcement as to the completion of this story. But first the explanations! You've probably noticed that even though this story is based on the 2005 film, there are some things in this chapter that are from the 1971 film. Although the 2005 film is my favorite, I like the 1971 one a lot, too (with one of my favorite moments being when Willy sings "Pure Imagination"). And although the Willy Wonka in my story is based on the Willy Wonka from the 2005 film, I like the Willy Wonka from the 1971 film as well. I've always been one of the rare people who has never thought that one Willy was better than the other. I like them both (and for what it's worth, I think that both actors did an equally great job!)! So that's why there is some '71 movieverse stuff in this chapter!

With that out of the way, I also feel I should clear up any confusion (no pun intended!) about Sylvia and Dr. Wonka and what their relationship is. At this point in time, they are just friends. Good friends, but just friends. But could they eventually become something more? That's basically what I've been playing at in this story. So in plain English, they are just friends, but there might be potential for that friendship to turn into something more at some point.

Now, to my announcement about the completion of this story! As you know, I had planned for this to be the last chapter. However, at the time I had NOT planned for this chapter to turn out as long as it did! So this will be the last regular chapter, but there will be an epilogue. I promise it won't be the novel that this chapter was. In fact, I'm planning for it to be rather short, actually. Also, just to give fair warning, this story will finally live up to its rating a bit in the epilogue. It'll probably still be on the tame side for an M rated fic, but it won't be as innocent as most of the rest of this story, either! Also, I will be posting another announcement with the epilogue! :)


	22. Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** It's called "fan fiction" for a reason, right? I don't own anything in this story!

**A/n: **Well, here it is, the conclusion to **Confusion **(try saying that five times fast!). As I said in my author's note at the end of the last chapter, the story finally lives up to its rating here. I'm assuming that, if you're reading M-rated fics like this one, you don't mind reading about things going beyond simple kissing. But I thought I'd warn you anyway!

Also, a HUGE thanks to the two people who took the time to review the last chapter. I really appreciate it, and as always, please keep those reviews coming!:

* * *

For the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening, Willy, Ronnie, and their wedding guests practically danced their feet off. The Oompa Loompas in particular really got into the dancing, performing all sorts of creative and acrobatic dance moves. One couple got so carried away that they nearly somersaulted right into the DJ booth (making Willy extremely grateful that the dancing was taking place well away from the Chocolate River!)! Ronnie and Willy, however, barely noticed the Oompa Loompas' antics (they were only aware of the somersault incident because the Oompa Loompa chief had temporarily halted the music until he knew the booth was safe!).

They were too busy focusing on each other. Although they had each danced with a few other people (in particular, Ronnie with Dr. Wonka and Willy with Sylvia), they had spent most of the afternoon and evening dancing together. In fact, their entire wedding party probably could have morphed into giant blueberries in front of them without them noticing a thing. All that mattered to them right then was each other. "Well, my fudgemallow delight, what do you say we leave this party and start our honeymoon?" Willy whispered to his bride as yet another song came to an end. "I'd love nothing more, my handsome confectioner," Ronnie whispered back. So, as the next song began, the bride and groom slipped away from their guests.

When they arrived at the river bank, Willy helped Ronnie into the purple candy boat and then climbed in himself. After pressing the buttons to program the oars and get the boat moving, he turned his full attention back to Ronnie. He couldn't believe that the moment he had been waiting for all day had finally arrived, their first moments alone together as husband and wife. "I can't believe we're finally married, starshine," he said. Ronnie's blue eyes looked lovingly into his purple ones. "I can't believe it, either," she said.

At that moment, the boat entered the tunnel, and Ronnie was reminded of the first time she'd ever gone gliding on a boat down the Chocolate River with Willy. This time, however, she wasn't going to wait around for the motion of the boat going over the chocolate rapids to tip her into her husband's arms. Instead, she moved herself onto his lap (the motion of which caused the boat to lean dangerously to one side. Much to the couple's relief, it righted itself before it could tip over!). Then she leaned her head back and smiled up at him.

Willy happily took the hint. He gently and tenderly cradled his wife's head with one hand and stroked her hair with the other. Ronnie closed her eyes and let the sensation envelope her. She had enjoyed it the first time Willy had stroked her hair, but now that he was doing so without his gloves on, it felt even better, and she moaned softly with pleasure. Then she felt her head being lifted, followed by the pressure of Willy's lips against hers. Without even really thinking about what she was doing, she parted her lips. Her mouth was soon invaded with the taste of chocolate and all sorts of other sweet things.

The candy maker was enjoying the kiss every bit as much as his bride was. "She tastes like strawberries!" he thought as he lifted her head a bit more, bringing her lips even closer to his and intensifying the kiss. He felt shivers run down his spine as his name emerged from Ronnie's lips in something between a gasp and a moan. By the time they broke the kiss, they were both overcome with passion.

Ronnie sat up and turned her back to Willy, allowing him to undo the buttons on the back of her dress. Then she carefully slipped out of the top part of the dress. With Ronnie's upper body free of its clothing, Willy removed his bow tie and tossed it aside. Unfortunately, he was a bit careless with his aim and it nearly sailed right into the river! Thankfully, Ronnie had very quick reflexes!

With the bow tie off, Willy removed his tail coat (even though he knew that suit coats were a bit more appropriate than tail coats, he hadn't been able to bring himself to wear one. It just wasn't his style. So he'd gone with a black tail coat, figuring that would at least look somewhat formal!). Then he slipped out of his shirt (he had decided to go without the waistcoat that day). These he didn't toss aside, but carefully laid down near the suitcases.

With his clothing taken care of, the chocolatier began kissing Ronnie once again. But this time, he started at her lips and then worked his way downward. Ronnie shuddered with pleasure as she felt her husband's lips on her bare flesh. Then she began running her hands over the candy maker's silky smooth chest. In response, he let out soft moans, just as she had done earlier. She quite liked the sounds of them and continued her exploration. "You're so soft," she murmured. "So are you," he said, so softly she could barely hear him.

By this time, they had reached a part of the tunnels that Ronnie hadn't seen before. Reluctantly, Willy interrupted his kissing of Ronnie, reached out, and pressed a button on the wall. This caused a panel to slide open in front of them. They went through it, and then Willy pressed another button which closed the panel "This is a part of the tunnel that no one is allowed in except me, and now, you. The Oompa Loompas and the Buckets don't even know it exists. That panel there conceals it from them. It looks just like the walls, so they have no reason to suspect anything is beyond it. And the buttons look like ordinary screws in the wall. That way, I can disappear for a little while if I want to," Willy explained. Ronnie grinned at him. "And now we can disappear together," she said. "That's right," Willy said.

Then, instead of going back to kissing her, he gently pushed on her shoulders until she was laying down. Then he laid on top of her and kissed her mouth once again. Ronnie responded by running her hands through his hair and then down his back. His moans filled the air once again, and Ronnie could feel his pants beginning to bulge. She knew it wouldn't be long before they expressed their passion completely. That thought made her shiver in anticipation.

Before Ronnie had time to anticipate any further, the boat bumped up against one of the tunnel walls. "Willy, I think we just hit a dead end," she said in almost a whisper (she and Willy had both found that, among the other things they were feeling, they didn't feel like talking very loudly). Willy grinned. "No we didn't," he said. Then he began banging the wall with his hand. After several bangs (it seemed to Ronnie that he was actually following some sort of pattern with the bangs, but she couldn't tell what that pattern was), a hidden door in the wall swung open.

Willy covered Ronnie's eyes before she had a chance to see what was beyond the door. "I do believe we've arrived at our honeymoon location," he said. Then, carefully cradling Ronnie in his arms (and still covering her eyes), he stepped out of the boat and carried her into the room they had just arrived at. Once they were inside, he gently removed his hand from her eyes, and Ronnie found herself looking at Dessert Island. Willy grinned down at her. "I told you you'd like the location I picked for the honeymoon," he said. Ronnie didn't say anything. Instead, she planted a tender kiss on her husband's lips.

* * *

**A/n: **Well, I hope you enjoyed this story! I also hope that I didn't Willy TOO OOC here. I figure that I have a little bit of wiggle room in regards to his personality, since it stands to reason that falling in love and getting married would probably change him a bit (or, at the very least, change his views on touching and being touched!

With that out of the way, you guys might be wondering why I didn't just go ahead and have them "express their passion completely". I opted not to do that for two reasons. The first is that I am not really comfortable writing full-on sex scenes. The second is that, weird as it may sound, I felt that Ronnie and Willy should be able to enjoy doing that particular deed without my telling the entire world about it! I guess, basically, I felt that some things are better left unsaid.

Anyway, I do believe I promised you guys another announcement with the epilogue! And here it is! I know some of you are feeling sad that this story is over. Well, you don't need to get too sad. Why? Well, because...drum roll please...

I HAVE A SEQUEL PLANNED! I probably won't start it for a couple months, as I feel it's always good to take a little break between stories, plus I'll be on vacation for most of the month of August. So you can probably expect to see the first chapter of the sequel sometime in September. Now that you kno I'm writing a sequel, I know what your next question is: What will the sequel be about? Well, here is a brief synopsis:

A few months have gone by since Willy and Ronnie's wedding, and they have settled into newlywed life at the factory. But then Ronnie gets some news...news that will change life at the factory forever. As a result, Willy finds himself taking quite the ride on the emotinal rollercoaster. It doesn't help matters that, for reasons the chocolatier can't figure out, Charlie suddenly seems to resent his mentor.

The title of the sequel will be "Uncertainty", and as for what that news is that Ronnie finds out...naturally I'm not going to tell you! You'll have to read the story to find out. I DO want to reassure you, however, by saying that "Uncertainty" is NOT going to a tragedy. ;)


End file.
